The Light Between Worlds
by mmrose9
Summary: Tsuna first boarded an airplane when he was 5, completely derailing the course of his future. Fueled by his new aspirations of becoming a pilot, Tsuna finds a home with his friends, dreaming of a happy future together. Unfortunately, that future gets significantly harder to reach when the Vongola suddenly find themselves in need of an heir. - Childhood friends AU & Pilot AU.
1. The Light Between Namimori and the Sky

.

 _ **The Light Between Worlds**_

 _Chapter I: The Light Between Namimori and the Sky_

 **"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." — Eleanor Roosevelt**

* * *

Nana first took Tsuna on an aircraft when he was 5.

He didn't know what an airplane was, and Nana didn't think to explain, stressed as she was being an all but single mother traveling alone for Tsuna's fifth birthday which Iemitsu missed. Again.

She thought of her husband visiting their abode and finding an empty house with all the lights shut off— no waiting wife, no squealing son— and felt a burst of vindictive pleasure.

Though of course he wouldn't visit. If he hadn't for 4 years, why would he start now?

But still, it was a pleasant thought.

The problem was Iemitsu loved them in the back of his mind. To Nana, who thought of the man she loved every moment of every day, it wasn't enough. His love was poisonous. If she stayed one more week in that quiet, big, empty house that he had left her and Tsu in and that she had once hoped of filling with children ( _now impossible, empty dreams_ ), she was going to go insane.

So she had splurged and taken Tsuna on a trip to Kyoto for a week, using the vast deposits in her shared account with Iemitsu that usually stayed untouched by her, who preferred both of them to maintain a modest, humble life. It wasn't a long flight, but it was a flight nonetheless.

Tsuna was Nana's pride and treasure. He was the only, and most important thing Nana had left. He had healed most of the scar that Iemitsu had left her. He was so good, that Nana could sometimes forget the way his doe eyes, peeking through a curtain of long, dark lashes, sometimes lit up a burning amber-gold, instead of his typical hues of warm chocolate and coffee. She could forget the vague way it reminded her of her husband.

But sometimes, she could not forget, and she wondered if Tsuna would abandon her in the same way her wayward husband did because of those eyes.

And the thought scared her, because Nana was possessive.

Tsuna belonged to Nana. Not Iemitsu. He vaguely resembled her husband in his aristocratic features— high cheekbones and piercing eyes— the same ones that had drawn her to Iemitsu, but everything else was Nana's. His slender neck, wrists, and ankles. His tiny waist that to Nana was so huggable. And his coloring was crisp Autumn, like Nana. None of Iemitsu's lying, lazing Summer. Tsuna was hewed from warm shades of amber, caramel, and mocha, with messy dark chocolate curls framing his heart-shaped face. He was guaranteed to melt any heart.

But, Tsuna was Nana's, and she would not let him fly far away like Iemitsu and leave her alone to wait forever, never knowing if he would come back alive or dead.

And that thought terrified her because she knew one day she would have to let him go fly, and she didn't know if she would be able to let him go with a smile… or at all.

Tsuna was babbling about one thing or another, and Nana felt vaguely guilty when his dark, innocent eyes looked at her for an answer to a question she had no recollection of hearing.

"Sorry, Tsu-kun. Mama didn't quite catch that. Could you please repeat it for me?"

Tsuna bit down on his soft, lower lip with his pearly milk teeth and complied. "That's okay, Mama. Tsu knows you've been really busy at the air-air... um... airpoll and that Mama is tired. Tsu was just wondering what an airplane was. Tsu can ask later."

Tsuna was usually good about using first person. Sometimes, though, when he was worried about something, he would switch. Was Tsuna perhaps scared of the plane? That wouldn't do…

"No, it's okay Tsu-kun. It's good to be curious. An airplane… hmm… Mama has an idea. Let's make a deal, ne? You can watch through the window, and then tell _me_ what an airplane is. If you guess right, Mama will buy you a treat."

"What if I guess wrong?"

"Hmmmm," Nana said, pretending to think. "Then I want five kisses from Tsu-kun… and a hug."

"But, I give Mama kissies all the time. It has to be a fair, so Mama should get a treat too!" Tsuna said pouting.

Nana laughed. "Mama just wants kisses from Tsu-kun, so don't worry, it's a fair trade."

Tsuna sighed deeply, giving Nana a look she had often seen on her own face when she thought someone was being ridiculous. "Okay, Mama. But if I win, I want both of us to get a treat," he agreed while grabbing one of her slender hands in his smaller, chubbier one.

"Okay, Tsuna," Nana agreed, kissing his forehead. He nuzzled into her hand with his soft cheek, his warm brown eyes softly looking up at her with complete trust and adoration, (A combo that never failed to bring about a sudden surge of love for her son) then began peering intently out the window, his little legs, not quite reaching the ground, subconsciously rocking back and forth excitedly.

.

* * *

The plane started zooming like a really big car. Maybe that was what an airplane was, a huge, super fast car. It made sense, but somehow, he doubted it.

The seats started rattling, and Tsuna grabbed Mama's hand tighter. She patted his head once in response, murmuring warm, comforting words. She gave him a piece of gum and told him to chew it so his ears wouldn't pop. Tsuna wasn't sure how ears could pop, but it sounded painful.

He continued staring out the round window, determined to find out what this machine was. Suddenly there was a bump and Tsuna no longer felt the smooth wheels turn beneath them.

They were flying! They were flying! In the sky!

Completely captivated, Tsuna continued watching Namimori grow smaller and smaller in the plane window. The sprawling town beneath them seemed both big and small at the same time. It was amazing. Huge hills were reduced to wrinkles in the fabric of life. Silver lakes glowed like puddles on a rainy day. Ant-like cars lazed through dusty paths, stitched like threadwork across Namimori. They were passing miles and miles of land in minutes.

The axis of Tsuna's world trembled and shifted in the wavering air.

Tsuna felt the kaleidoscope of butterflies in his tummy flutter when they hit a bit of turbulence. He gazed in awe as they drifted through a cloud. The plane was veiled in a shroud of mist. Finally, they broke through the clouds and entered the stratosphere.

It was a different universe.

But it felt somewhat nostalgic. Like a dream he had forgotten.

Tsuna's breath caught. Unexpectedly, his eyes grew damp.

It felt like home.

A flood of unfamiliar emotions rushed through him, and deep within, Tsuna's flames resonated in response, turning his eyes apricot-gold. But he didn't notice, enamored by the world outside the window. A sea of clouds with the miniscule curve of the horizon in the distance. A world above the one he had just left. A world he never wanted to leave.

Wide-eyed with awe, he stared at the window until an air hostess caught his attention. He turned his face towards the pretty lady, blinking a few times with his long lashes to accommodate the difference in lighting and to clear the dreamy world that was etched in the awe of his eyes.

She was asking what drink he wanted.

"Could I please have a glass of apple juice?" he asked, politely, like his mama taught him.

The lady practically cooed, and got out a plastic glass.

Tsuna turned towards Nana, eyes alight with wonder. "Mama, I think I figured it out. An airplane is a flying ship that sails through the sky!" Tsuna explained ecstatically, talking with his hands (another trait from his father).

"Correct Tsu-kun. But it's not like a ship. There's no sails."

"Then how does it work?"

"Ummm. See out the window. There are its wings."

"So it's like birdie-chan," Tsuna said excitedly flapping his hands like wings.

"No, it doesn't flap its wings, someone flies it."

"Oh! Like SuperBot!"

Nana laughed. "Uh, not exactly…"

"Then _how_ , Mama?"

"It's complicated," Nana waved off to hide the fact that she didn't quite know herself.

Tsuna pouted.

"If you'd like, I could give him a tour of the aircraft," the air hostess finally interjected, handing Tsuna his apple juice.

"Really?!" Tsuna asked bright-eyed with excitement.

"Yes, if it's okay with you?" The lady asked, turning towards Nana.

"That would be wonderful," Nana agreed easily, smiling gratefully at the lady.

"I'll be right back as soon as I finish giving everybody their drinks."

.

* * *

"And this is the cockpit," the air hostess announced as they made it all the way to the front of the plane. Their last stop.

Tsuna gaped at the huge windows that showed an unobstructed view of the sea of clouds and at the dizzying number of twinkling buttons.

The copilot came over, and a relief crew member temporarily stepped in. Tsuna gazed shyly at the adult in the crisp, white uniform with three stripes.

"What's your name, son?" The man asked in a slightly gruff voice.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi," he immediately answered. "Nice to meet you," he continued softer. He sketched a bow.

"Nice to meet you, Sawada-kun. Do you have any questions for me?"

"Y-yes… If it's okay?"

The man nodded.

"H-how does the airplane fly?"

The man let loose a startling laugh, a warm sound that reminded Tsuna of thunder. "Well, that's Aerodynamics, son. I can simplify it a little for you if you'd like. When we're in the air, wind catches beneath the wings causing a force called lift. This balances out the downward force of the plane. The plane moves down because-"

"Of gravy, right?" Tsuna excitedly burst, remembering when his mother had explained why when he tripped, he always hit the floor. Realizing he had interrupted, he clapped his hand over his mouth. "I'm sorry," he mumbled.

The man laughed again. "No, you're right. But, it's gravity, not gravy," the man explained chuckling. "Now on the wings we have thrusters. These help move us forward, as their force pushing us forward is stronger than air resistance."

"Thrusters? Like SuperBot?!"

"Yes. Much like SuperBot…" the man said with a little smile. "Any other questions?"

"Yes.. Um, what's air resistance? And how does the wind catch under the wings? It never catches _me_ when _I_ fall. And, what does lift mean," Tsuna asked eyebrows scrunched as he attempted to understand the complex explanation.

"You're cute, kid," the copilot absently commented, patting Tsuna's fluffy head. "Don't worry about it, you'll learn it later in school. Do you have anything else you want to ask me?"

"What do all these buttons do?"

"That would take me hours to explain. Generally, they just help us control the aircraft. If you ever become a pilot, you'll have to learn what every button does."

"I can become a pilot?" Tsuna asked incredulously. How could _he_ , the boy the other kids on the playground called _Dame-Tsuna,_ ever be something so cool?

"Yes, if you study well and work hard, I'm sure you can definitely become an amazing pilot," the copilot answered.

The words echoed in Tsuna's head. _Study well and work hard._

They looped around like a broken recorder.

He could do that.

"I have to get back to my job now, but take this," the copilot said, handing Tsuna a small plane. "It's a model of the airplane we're flying in right now," he explained.

"Thank you, Mister! I'll take really good care of it!" Tsuna tumbled forward and hugged the man's leg. He felt happiness course through his veins. Nobody but his family had ever given him anything before. Nobody.

The man patted Tsuna's fluffy hair twice and waved goodbye as Tsuna skipped behind the air hostess and returned to his mother.

.

* * *

"Did you have fun?" Nana asked.

"Yes! The copilot gave me a m-model of the airplane," Tsuna said, slightly stumbling over the newer words. He narrated his experience in full detail, spending the longest on the cockpit. When he finished, they sat immersed in a cloud of warm silence together.

"Mama…"

"Yes, Tsu-kun?"

"When I grow up, I want to be a pilot," he announced. He peeked at Nana to see her reaction.

"Hmm, a pilot?"

"Yes. Then I can fly like SuperBot," Tsuna explained seriously.

"Ahh, I see. And will you help people like SuperBot too?"

"Yup. And I'll take Mama with me so we can help people together!"

Nana burst out in laughter that sounded like warm rain. "Okay, Tsu-kun. Make Mama proud, okay? You have to be the best pilot you can be!"

"Okay!" Tsuna replied nodding vigorously in agreement.

The rest of the flight, Nana showed Tsuna how to make paper cranes out of napkins while Tsuna babbled about his tour. Finally, exhaustion took over, and Tsuna slept, his tiny head resting on Nana's lap while she stared out the window in contemplation.

A pilot would be fine, as long as Tsuna took the time to fly home sometimes. It wasn't a job that would turn Tsuna into a ghost, like her husband. A pilot would be fine, she repeated in relief as she decided to encourage Tsuna with all her ability.

Besides, wouldn't her boy look handsome dressed in a pilot's uniform?

Nana giggled trying to imagine the sight.

She continued to smile, even as both of them left the airport clutching gelato in opposite hands and wheeling their bags in the other.

.

* * *

 **.**

 **Hi everyone, Mmrose9 here.**

 **I know it's been a while.**

 **Thank you everyone who has reviewed, followed, and favorited my previous stories!**

 **So do you think I should continue this? I really wanted to explore this idea. It'll also be my first multi-chapter story on here. (-:**

 **I can't guarantee a proper update schedule. My life is about to get pretty hectic. I will do my best if you guys like it though. So please, tell me what you think below.**

 **I do not own KHR, that honor belongs to the lovely Akira Amano.**

 **EDIT (7/28/17): Fixed some tense issues (Thank you, Verixon).**

 **EDIT (1/16/18): Centering issues**

 **EDIT (5/16/18): Formatting and further tense issues**

 **Thank you so much,**

 **\- Mmrose9**


	2. The Light Between Chaos and Love

.

 _ **The Light Between Worlds**_

 _Chapter II: The Light Between Chaos and Love_

 **"He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home." — Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe**

* * *

Tsuna could hardly contain his excitement.

His uncle was visiting today. Mama said Uncle Reborn was one of his dad's co-workers. He had been visiting them for as long as Tsuna could remember, and Tsuna loved him like another father.

Sometimes, he thought late at night, even better than his own father— the man he talked to over the phone two times a year and who called him "Tuna-fishie" even though Tsuna had tried to tell him he didn't want to be called that.

Mama had once told him that his uncle was his Godfather. He had asked Reborn how they were related once, and Reborn had told him that they weren't actually real family, he was just supposed to take care of Tsuna when Nana couldn't.

Reborn was silly sometimes. Just because they weren't related didn't mean they weren't family. Reborn would always be his favorite person ever. No matter what. He told Reborn that once, but Reborn hadn't said anything. Just covered his face with his fedora and looked off to the side. Tsuna knew his uncle did that when he didn't want Tsuna to know what he was thinking.

Tsuna woke up early and ran to the kitchen, suffused with the vapors of steaming coffee, a scent usually uncommon to the Sawada household except when a certain family member was home.

There was his Uncle, sitting on the dining room chair, a steaming espresso in his hand, scanning a newspaper.

Tsuna was practically fizzing in excitement. Trying to contain himself, he crept up on Reborn, trying his best to walk lightly on his tippy toes and not breathe too loud. This time _he_ was going to surprise his Zio. Right as he was about to call out, his Zio grabbed him in a smooth motion, yanking him onto his lap.

"What were you trying to pull, Dame-Tsuna?" Reborn asked, casually taking another sip of his espresso.

It never hurt when Reborn called him Dame. His uncle didn't truly _mean_ it. It was just what he called him.

"N-nothing, R-reborn," Tsuna replied, burying his face into his Uncle's neatly ironed dress shirt. Reborn always smelled of coffee. It was one of his favorite scents in the whole wide world.

"What did I say about stuttering, Dame-Tsuna?"

"N-not to do it."

Reborn smiled dangerously.

With a squeal, Tsuna leapt from his Uncle's lap and tried to sprint away. He didn't get very far— only about two steps— before Reborn easily picked him up and started tickling him.

"N-n-noo, Zio. Stop it!" Tsuna giggled out. He tried to push away Reborn's hands.

"What was that, Dame-Tsuna? You want to be tickled some more?"

"N-n-noo!"

" _Ask me in Italian and you might have a chance,_ " Reborn said, the lilting language of his homeland tumbling from his lips.

" _Stop tickling me! Please!_ " Tsuna said in the language of his birthright. Not that he was aware of that yet.

Reborn laughed. His pronunciation needed work, but his accent- the flow of the words- was marvelous.

After ten more seconds, Reborn stopped, tugging the brat back onto his lap as he settled by his espresso.

He continued to pretend to read the newspaper, actually watching his godson catch up with Leon. Tsuna absolutely adored the tiny chameleon, and the affection was fully returned.

Taking another sip of coffee, Reborn shut his eyes and tilted his fedora forward to shade his face. Nana was humming some tune in the kitchen. Her voice blended in with his godson's babbling into something Reborn would call music. As a hitman, Reborn didn't get many mornings like this. He had to treasure what he had.

"Ne, Reborn…" Tsuna called out, fidgeting and wringing his hands.

Reborn raised an eyebrow.

"I have something really important to tell you…"

"What, Dame-Tsuna?"

Tsuna blushed. "Uh, well…"

"Spit it out."

"When I grow up, I'm gonna be pilot!"

"A pirate?"

"No! A pilot. P-I-L-A-T!"

"A Pilates instructor?"

Tsuna huffed. "A pilot, Reborn! They fly airplanes!"

"Ohh, a pilot."

"Yes!"

"You need to speak clearer, Dame-Tsuna."

"You need to hear better, Meanie-Reborn," Tsuna muttered under his breath.

" _Are you talking back to me, Dame-Tsuna?_ "

"N-no!"

"What was that?"

With a high pitched squeal, Tsuna leaped off Reborn's lap and raced to the kitchen.

Reborn let him escape, hiding an affectionate smile under his fedora.

.

* * *

Reborn took him to the library later that evening.

After Tsuna had picked over a dozen books about airplanes, Reborn presented him with a new Italian workbook.

He was adamant that Tsuna learn Italian. His blood meant, no matter how much Reborn detested and despised the thought, that one day, Tsuna would be drawn into the web. And when that happened, he would be damned if his godson was some condemned, broken butterfly, vulnerable to the spiders of the Mafia.

"Make sure you finish it by my next visit, Dame-Tsuna."

Tsuna nodded obediently, rubbing his finger down the spine of the thick workbook unhappily.

"Can you read me a story? Please?"

Tsuna was giving him puppy dog eyes. His technique had improved since Reborn had last visited.

Damn it, he was a hitman. He did not read picture books to little brats, even if the brat in question was his godson.

"Reborn, _please_ ," Tsuna asked again, widening his incandescent eyes to ridiculous proportions.

Sighing, Reborn reluctantly picked a random book.

It was a Danish fairy tale about a flying trunk. How fitting for his godson's aspirations.

Reborn read the curious story to Tsuna.

It told a tale of a foolish son who squandered his father's wealth, thus losing all of his friends.

("They aren't very good friends," Tsuna said with a huff.)

One of the man's fair-weather friends took pity on him and sent him a trunk as a gift. Having nothing to put into the trunk, the man enclosed himself in it instead.

("Hiding in suitcases is fun," Tsuna commented sagely. "Except when your hair gets caught in the zipper.")

The trunk took him to Turkey, where he befriended and romanced a Turkish princess who was locked in a tower. He convinced her parents to let them marry by appeasing them with some nonsense story about talking matches and saucepans.

("Do you think Mama's kitchen stuff talks to her too?" " _You'll have to ask Nana that yourself, Dame-Tsuna_.")

However, on the day before their wedding, he set off a bunch of fireworks. The trunk was incinerated, and the man never returned to Turkey. His bride was left waiting for him forever.

Reborn looked up at the end to see Tsuna was crying.

"What are you crying about, Dame-Tsuna?"

"I hated it!" Tsuna yelled, pushing the book away. It skittered across the smooth table, tumbling off the other end with a crash.

Reborn raised an eyebrow. His godson had never been so vehement about anything. Nor had he flung things before. Reborn frowned disapprovingly.

Tsuna crossed his arms. "It was the worst story I've ever read. Ever. Why did you read that to me?"

"What didn't you like about it, Dame-Tsuna?"

"The ending. Why did the man have to leave? That's stupid. He left the princess waiting."

"What, Tsuna? Did you want him to stay with his bride forever? That kind of ending is unrealistic."

"Why?" His godson's voice was low and sharp. His eyes glared a brilliant molten orange. "Why is it u-unrealistik?" Tsuna argued, his voice stumbling over the word. "Why can't people who love each other just stay together? Why do they have to leave?"

Reborn sighed, feeling as if an uncomfortable conversation topic had ambushed him. He knew as well as the next guy that this wasn't about flying trunks anymore. "Because sometimes people need to go to protect the people they love."

Tsuna frowned.

"That makes no sense."

"Sometimes things don't make sense. That doesn't make them any less true. Now I'll read something else for you if you stop crying."

"I'm not crying!" Tsuna protested, angrily wiping at his eyes.

Reborn sighed.

He pulled his godson on to his lap.

"Let go!" Tsuna yelled, pushing at his arms unhappily.

"No."

Tsuna squirmed against him, but Reborn held tight. Finally, Tsuna stopped protesting and buried his teary face into Reborn's shirt.

"I don't like you going. You always look so tired and sad when you come home." Tsuna struggled to express himself. "I don't like it when you look that way."

"I know," Reborn said, pulling Tsuna closer. "I'm sorry," he whispered against his godson's fluffy hair.

It was all he could do.

At the end of the day, Tsuna and him were on opposite sides of a pane of glass. He could look in and pretend he belonged on the other half of the glass, but this was not his world.

No matter how much he wished it could be.

.

* * *

Silver moonlight pooled from the slit between the curtains of the window. It dripped onto the dark walnut floorboards of Tsuna's room.

"Are you leaving tomorrow?" Tsuna asked, curling closer to his uncle.

Reborn and Tsuna had already gone to bed, but Tsuna knew Reborn was still awake. After he fell sleep, his godfather usually got up to work and do Reborn things.

Their foreheads bumped. Tsuna's brilliant amber gaze stared into Reborn's quiet, dark eyes.

His godfather's eyes were like the space between the stars. They surrounded and protected the small light from the emptiness of space, while also being made up of that same emptiness. To most, their purpose and motive was incomprehensible.

However, their shifting patterns were as clear as night and day to Tsuna.

"Non lo so, Dame-Tsuna. I don't know." Reborn's words were soft, spoken like a prayer.

"Oh…" Tsuna said, trying to hide his disappointment.

He felt embarrassed about crying in the library. He was not a baby anymore. But the flying trunk story was really really sad.

Leon snuggled closer, as if trying to comfort him.

Tsuna wanted Reborn and Leon to stay with them forever, but he knew that was being shellfish, as Mama had said. And Tsuna didn't want to be shellfish— he didn't want to be any kind of fish. He just wanted to be Tsuna.

Maybe their time was made all the more precious by its brevity.

When Reborn went away, it was like he took a piece of Tsuna's heart with him. Maybe that's why it hurt so much. Why he felt separation like a wound and reuniting like joy itself.

Mama had told him something once when he was young enough to ask her why Papa kept leaving.

" _Sometimes, people create a distant heaven they say they're fighting for, when truly, they've already fallen from it."_

Tsuna hadn't understood what she meant. He still didn't really. But Mama's eyes had been so empty when she had said it, that Tsuna hadn't felt like asking her any more questions about Papa.

Reborn wasn't like Papa. No matter how many years passed, he always returned home.

"Ne, Reborn."

"What, Dame-Tsuna?"

"I was thinking about the flying trunk story."

His godfather stayed silent.

"If the man in the story really wanted to return, wouldn't he have tried everything to go back to Turkey? I mean, he didn't even check to see if there were any airplanes going there, right? So maybe, he didn't actually want to get married. Maybe he didn't love the princess."

"What are you saying, Dame-Tsuna?"

Tsuna smiled. "I don't think you're like the man in the story, Reborn. Even if your flying trunk burned down, you'd find a way to come home because you're the greatest uncle in the world. So it's okay even if you leave. I may not like it, but since we're family, you'll come back. 'Cuz family loves each other no matter what, and people who really love each other belong together. And, people who belong together would fight to stay together, even if their trunks burned down, right?"

Silence.

Tsuna looked up to see his godfather was hiding his face.

"Reborn?"

"What, Dame-Tsuna?"

His godfather's voice sounded kind of gravely.

"Are you okay?" Had Tsuna said something wrong?

Finally, Reborn turned back around.

"Of course I am."

Reborn's eyes met Tsuna's. His uncle pressed a kiss to his forehead.

" _Ti voglio bene,_ Tsuna _. We'll be family till the end of_ _time itself_."

Tsuna smiled brilliantly, like the sun, planting his own kiss on Reborn's cheek. " _Anch'io._ "

.

* * *

After their conversation, Reborn lay silently in his godson's bed. He slipped his hand through his godson's autumn locks. Tsuna was going to be magnificent one day. No truthfully, he already was.

Reborn wanted to stay alive long enough to see him grow up and change the world.

His godson wasn't asleep yet, even though it had been an exhausting day of playing with Leon, learning Italian, and reading about flying trunks. Reborn knew Tsuna always slept late on the days he visited the Sawada residence, trying to prolong the short time they had together.

"Reborn, are you still up?"

Tsuna spoke and Reborn answered. It was as simple as that.

"It's late, Dame-Tsuna," he chided.

"I need to ask you something important." Tsuna sat up, turning to look at him. "D-do you think I'll make a good pilot?"

Reborn's eyes flitted open. His godson's face was pale and worried. Reborn sighed internally. The problem with kids was that they were so fragile. They needed constant reassurance and attention. Of course, it was the most rewarding feeling in the world when they finally started standing on their own, but Reborn couldn't help but feel like he was thrown into the deep end before he was ready for it. He could do tough love, and Tsuna often needed tough love, but in moments like this, Reborn wasn't so sure.

He exhaled. "You need to decide that for yourself, Tsuna."

"But, I'm _Dame-_ Tsuna. How could I be a pilot?"

Reborn felt a wave of fury rise in response to his godson's words.

"What, are you being bullied again?"

"N-no!" An obvious lie.

Reborn sighed, pulling his little godson closer.

Tomorrow he'd be back in a world of bloodshed and violence, but, at least today, he could indulge himself in this.

In family and trust.

In Tsuna.

Reborn felt his flames synchronize with Tsuna's unawakened ones. His godson was going to be one hell of a powerful sky. He could already tell.

Reborn sometimes thought his avarice had no bounds. Already, he was thinking that when those flames awakened, he wanted to be the one to shape them into a burning fire befitting his gentle, yet strong-willed godson.

But he couldn't.

He would never let Tsuna— his soft-hearted little brat who sometimes flinched at his own shadow— near his own sinful, tainted flames. This monthly interaction itself was a dangerous indulgence, yet Reborn always convinced himself to come despite reason and experience telling him otherwise.

This was the only thing in his bleeding, shattered life that still had any meaning.

"Dame-Tsuna, you can do anything as long as you do it with your dying will."

.

* * *

The next morning, his uncle was gone.

On his bedside table, there was a brand new non-fiction picture book about planes.

Tsuna fingered the glossy pages sadly.

The house smelled of green tea and spices.

He plodded down the stairs, glaring at the last step.

 _I'm watching you_ , he told it. _You're not going to trip me today_.

"Tsuna!" Nana called.

"Yes, Mama?"

"I made fette biscottate with chocolate for you!" Nana's lyrical voice tripped over the foreign word, but the meaning was clear.

Fette biscottate was the food of consolation. It meant, clearer than any words, that Reborn really had left again.

"Coming!" Tsuna yelled back. He stepped forward, but miscalculated the distance. He went tumbling to the floor.

 _Oof_ -

Ouch.

He glared at the last step in irritation before running to breakfast.

.

* * *

 **.**

 **Hi everyone! Mmrose9 here.**

 **First off, some notes:**

 **Reborn is, as of now, uncursed in this. Meaning he is in his adult body (if that wasn't obvious).**

 **I'm sorry, but there's not going to be much plane stuff for now.** **That stuff will come in later though. Tsuna will be staying a kid for a while.**

 **Other than a dotting of a few words / phrases, when characters are speaking a different language, I will typically put it in _Italics_ and mention somewhere what language they are speaking. I refuse to use Google Translate.**

 **When I said this is AU, I really did mean it's AU. Not just in the fact that Tsuna wants to become a pilot when he grows up, but also in the order in which he meets everyone, etc. (Which is why Tsuna already knows Reborn.)**

 **Also, the Danish Flying Trunk Story is by Hans Christian Anderson. Just search "The Flying Trunk," by Hans Christian Anderson if you want to read it. I paraphrased it quite a bit and simplified some things.**

 **I want to thank everyone who has reviewed, followed, and favorited this. I really can't express in words how much every one of them means to me. (-:**

 **Special thanks to Kain Vixenheim.**

 **Before I forget: I do not own KHR, that honor belongs to the lovely Akira Amano.**

 **Please tell me what you think below. Even one word reviews make my day.**

 **EDIT 1/16/18: Finally figured out how to center the top line.**

 **Lots of love,**

 **Mmrose9**


	3. The Light Between the Clouds and the Sky

.

 _ **The Light Between Worlds**_

 _Chapter III: The Light Between the Clouds and the Sky_

 **"No one is free, even the birds are chained to the sky."** **—** **Bob Dylan**

* * *

"Have fun today, Tsu-kun!" Nana cheerfully proclaimed, as she left him to the wolves.

Well, theoretically, it was his new first grade class, but it did not change the fact that he was being abandoned.

His pre-k had burned down, leaving all the kids who went there to try and find someplace new right at the start of the next school year. Tsuna just had one more year of kindergarten before he started real school, so Nana had decided that he could forgo his last year and just start first grade.

The Namimori first grade elementary was a small red brick affair off to the side of the main elementary and middle school campus. It was the original school building for Namimori. It had been abandoned after the population of the city had grown past its capacity. It had only recently been reclaimed for the first graders, as it was too tiny to comfortably fit any of the other grades.

Tsuna had never been very popular at kindergarten due to his clumsiness and shyness, but at least he had had friends. Okay, only two friends, but friends nonetheless. Kyoko and Hana. Kyoko was always super-nice to him, and always shared some of her lunch. Hana was sometimes mean and blunt, but always looked after him and called the people who picked on him monkeys.

However, both Hana and Kyoko were going to a different schools. One that would be more con… con… convenient for their parents to pick and drop them off. He wasn't sure if they were starting first grade yet or not.

There was a silver lining. Maybe, if Tsuna tried really really hard not to be clumsy, the kids here wouldn't call him Dame-Tsuna.

Pilots weren't clumsy or dame, and since he was going to be a pilot, now was the time to get started.

 _Hi, I'm Tsuna. When I grow up, I'm going to be a pilot._

Simple enough. Tsuna practiced it in his head a few times. Reborn always told him to lift his head and have confidence. Confidence meant you believed in yourself.

Nodding with resolution, Tsuna stepped forward to introduce himself when it was his turn.

"Hi, I'm Tsuna- Waah!"

There had been a fold in the carpet. When Tsuna had walked forward, his leg had caught on it. He lay splayed out on the floor, bright red. The other kids began laughing.

"Hey!" Osamu-kun, who had introduced himself earlier said. "I've seen that kid on the playground before! He's always tripping over something so we call him, Dame-Tsuna!"

Tsuna felt his heart drop, like a plane falling from the sky.

"Dame-Tsuna!" The other kids began chanting between their giggles.

"Now, now children," Tsubaki-sensei cut in. Tsuna looked up hopefully. "The school assembly starts soon, so stop. We need to move on to the next person."

Tsuna noticed the sensei was frowning. Like she was embarrassed to have such a clumsy, dumb student. Even Tsubaki-sensei thought he was Dame.

"Tsuna-kun, why don't you get up off the floor now. It's Ikumi-chan's turn."

Tsuna looked around the circle of mocking, unfamiliar faces. Before the teacher could blink, Tsuna had rushed out of the room, trying not to bawl until he was alone.

.

* * *

Tsuna sniffled. He knew coming here was a bad idea. He had tried to tell Mama too, but she hadn't listened.

He wasn't ever ever ever going back to Tsubaki-sensei's room. Ever.

As he sat under the Sakura tree in the neglected garden of the school, he suddenly heard an odd twittering song.

It was a little bird singing.

A cute, yellow canary hopped in front of him.

Tsuna hiccuped and tried to wipe away his tears. "Birdie-chan? What are you doing here?"

The canary flapped its little wings and perched in Tsuna's fluffy, gravity-defying hair. It started to warble a pretty little strain.

Tsuna giggled at how well the birdie could sing.

"Thank you, birdie-chan," Tsuna whispered. The bird chirped back. Tsuna wondered what the little creature was saying.

He wondered if you could learn to speak bird. It would be a good thing for pilots to know.

How else would they tell the birds to move out of the way when flying?

Maybe Reborn knew how. Reborn knew everything.

For now, he carefully listened to the bird, and tried to repeat its chirps.

Tsuna got the feeling the little birdie was laughing at him. But, not in a mean way— more like Reborn when Tsuna tried to say something in Italian and made a funny mistake.

"I'm going to keep trying," he promised the bird.

Suddenly, Tsuna instincts screamed to move. He tumbled to the side, narrowly missing a steel thingie that hit the trunk of the Sakura tree.

It was a little boy who looks too old to be in first grade. The main elementary school and lower elementary shared a garden, Tsuna suddenly remembered. Tsuna gulped. Maybe this person was a second grader!

"Hand over the bird, herbivore," the boy commanded.

Suddenly, Tsuna felt defensive. Birdie-chan was his friend! No way he was just going to hand the little puff-ball over. Who knows what the scary person was going to do to it. Taking a deep breath, Tsuna calmed himself. He had to protect birdie-chan.

"No."

"Don't try me, Herbivore. I said give me the bird."

"You can't take, birdie-chan!"

The older kid raised an eyebrow.

"He's my friend, and I'm going to protect him from you!"

Unknowingly, Tsuna's eyes glowed amber orange with his gleaming resolve.

"Wao," the older boy said with a smirk. Rushing forward, he aimed a steel thingie at Tsuna.

Time seemed to tremble and melt, slowing like solidifying amber. Movements turned into ripples as they cut across the air. They were singing to him, telling him when to duck and where to move.

He shifted left, sliding under the blow. He felt the swing just slice across the top of his hair. Time started to speed up, though Tsuna still felt as if he was dangled in the space between seconds.

If he closed his eyes, he could feel where everything was and where everything was going. It reminded him of playing with Reborn and Leon.

For one moment Tsuna felt a sense of complete control. He knew the layout of this moment intimately. It was… fun?

But then, his chronic clumsiness struck again. He managed to dodge the steel thingie, but fell forwards, scraping his knee on the gravel and concrete sidewalk beside the tree.

.

* * *

The little herbivore burst into tears. Hibari froze, uncertain. Hibird peeked out of the little herbivore's fluffy locks before trilling a little melody.

"B-birdie-chan?" The little herbivore asked through his sniffles. Weak, Hibari thought. But the little herbivore had lasted against his tonfas for so long. Surely that meant something?

Suddenly, the little herbivore looked up shyly at Hibari. His eyes, peeking out from long lashes clinging with tears, were still shiny and soft. His mouth was wobbling a little, and he was clutching Hibird closely, but gently.

Hibari felt as though his heart had been pierced.

Cute.

"Name, herbivore."

Don't stutter, Tsuna tried to remind himself. "Tsuna."

Silence.

"W-what's yours?" Tsuna asked nervously.

"You're hurt on school grounds, little herbivore."

Tsuna scrunched his eyebrows in confusion.

Putting his tonfas away, Hibari picked up the little herbivore who was quite light, and decided to carry him to the main elementary school nurse's office. There usually wasn't anyone there anyway.

"What's an her-bie-war?" Tsuna asked curiously.

"Hn. It's a small, helpless, little animal that needs to be protected and disciplined by a carnivore like me."

"Oh, so I'm an her-bie-war?"

"Hn."

Tsuna frowned and tried not to pout.

He was not small or helpless, thank you very much. He was going to be a pilot, and pilots were brave and smart and very cool.

.

* * *

The car-nie-war (?) was pretty good at bandaging up scrapes.

Maybe he got hurt a lot?

"Ne, onii-san, what's your name?" Tsuna tried asking again.

The car-nie-war ignored him, focused on his task.

"Ne, onii-san!" Tsuna asked a little louder, now tugging on the car-nie-war's jacket.

The car-nie-war froze, looking up with glacial eyes. Like two black holes in the void of space.

Tsuna dropped the car-nie-war's jacket. He crossed his arms and tried not to pout again.

"Herbivore, if I catch you ditching class again, I will bite you to death."

"You'll bite me to death?" Tsuna gasped. His forehead scrunched up as he tried to understand what exactly that meant.

The car-nie-war reached for his steel thingie, but his eyes looked amused. He reminded Tsuna a little of Reborn.

The little bird peeked out of Tsuna's hair again. Flapping its tiny wings, it took off from Tsuna's hair and landed on the car-nie-war's shoulder.

"What's birdie-chan's name?" Tsuna wondered.

"Hibird."

Tsuna looked up in surprise. The car-nie-war was already leaving.

"Wait!" Tsuna called.

The car-nie-war stopped for a second, looking back.

"I-I don't know the w-way."

The car-nie-war sighed. He tilted his head.

Tsuna scrambled off the nurse's bench following after him. After multiple turns, they arrived back at the sakura tree.

Tsuna sat down. The car-nie-war looked curiously at him.

"Get back to class, herbivore."

"No," Tsuna mumbled. He couldn't go back. He had already embarrassed himself enough today.

The car-nie-war reached for his tonfa, but Tsuna was determined.

"I'm never going back to Tsubaki-sensei's class. Ever."

The car-nie-war pulled out the steel thingie, but surprisingly, a wave of calm crashed over Tsuna.

He wouldn't get hit by the tonfa— he could just kind of tell. Like the times he knew when it would rain later and mama should bring an umbrella. Or when he knew the day otou-san would call.

The car-nie-war surged forward, but Tsuna didn't move, his mind was whirring like a half a dozen shifting gears.

At times, Tsuna entered the flow of a deep river. Details would gently wash over him, telling him where everything was going without overwhelming him. But other times, he would be knocked off his feet and plunged headfirst into the river. The details would crash over him and slither into his mouth and trachea, stealing his very breath. He would drown.

Hibari started moving forward and Tsuna was once again cast into the gaps between seconds. Which direction was the blow coming from? How fast was it coming? Where were his eyes? His feet? Which way was his body positioned? How was he holding the tonfa? Where was Tsuna positioned? What was around him? All the random details merged into a whole picture. The tree. The blow would land on the tree a few centimeters above his head.

.

* * *

"Hn, omnivore," Hibari scoffed, moving the tonfa back from the tree he had slammed it into.

The small animal looked up at him, his eyes fiery, almost glowing. Hibari doubted heaven or hell would be able to bring him back to Tsubaki-sensei's classroom.

He felt a tendril of excitement curl through him. He wanted to try. He wondered what it would be like if he tried matching willpowers with the omnivore.

Undoubtedly, he would win of course. But still…

"Fight me," he commanded.

The small animal looked affronted. "What? No! And b-besides onii-san, don't you have to get to c-class too?"

Hibari froze.

Truly, an omnivore.

"Small animal, you will attend class today."

The omnivore looked up at him softly, but there was an unmistakable sharpness to it. A wildness and resolve Hibari could feel match his own, piece for piece. He felt something burn in him as he stared straight into Tsuna's molten eyes. Unknown to him, his own welled up purple.

Hibari's hands itched towards his tonfas. He felt the desperate need to test and push. To define boundaries to be broken later. It was primal, it was instinctive, he had never felt anything like it before. But it was the wrong time. With a forced breath, he resisted the urge. He remembered his okaa-san's words. He needed to set a good example for the rest of the herbivores in his class.

"Come."

The small animal looked up in surprise.

Hibari clicked his tongue impatiently, and finally the small animal scrambled onto his feet, following Hibari wordlessly.

.

* * *

"Is it really okay to sit here onii-san?" the small animal asked softly.

Hibari ignored the omnivore. Talking in class was prohibited.

No one had questioned him when he had returned ridiculously late with the small, adorable first grade kid. The teacher had tried to approach him once about it, but he had stared her down until she turned away.

The herbivore teachers knew he was only here because he wanted to be. They knew not to push him.

The teacher up front was giving back tests.

"Hibari Kyoya," she called.

Hibari rose.

The small animal's face lit up. "Hibari Kyoya! That's your name!"

Hibari froze.

In the classroom, everyone silently prepared themselves for the successive beat up they knew was coming. It wouldn't matter to Kyoya that the child was so much younger than the rest of them.

"There are no need for names, omnivore. Just keep calling me as you do."

Wait… Omnivore? Everybody thought at the same time.

The first grader pouted. "That's no good." Suddenly, the child blushed. "Then, um," he paused, blushing harder, "Kyo-senpai?"

It was inevitable this time. They waited with baited breaths. Their wait was in vain.

"Hn, call me as you wish, small animal."

Then Hibari was ghosting forward to collect his paper and the class descended into a smattering of whispered conversations.

Hibari had taken a first grader under his wing.

By tomorrow, the whole school would know.

.

* * *

"Do you usually come up here for lunch, Kyo-senpai?" Tsuna asked, kicking the concrete of the rooftop with his SuperBot themed sneakers.

"Be still," Kyoya commanded, flopping onto the stone flooring of the rooftop. "Sleep."

Carnivores needed their naps. His father had told him so before disappearing to another country for work.

"Don't you eat lunch?"

Kyoya ignored the comment. Hibird flew in, landing in the omnivore's hair. Was the omnivore's hair really that soft?

"Come here."

The small animal curiously obliged, sitting down next to him.

Kyoya tentatively patted the other boy's hair.

Soft. Very soft. Very very soft. And fluffy. Like the downy feathers of a fledgling.

The younger boy was a bit like a baby bird actually. Soft and vulnerable, but with a sharp beak and an innate sturdiness to resist the opposing forces of gravity. He stared closer at the omnivore, feeling the scorching of an unfamiliar feeling.

The omnivore looked at him curiously. Kyoya dropped his hand.

"I can go buy some milk," the omnivore shyly offered. "I saw a vending machine outside the door."

"Do as you wish omnivore," Kyoya commented closing his eyes. After all, if the omnivore was getting hungry, why should he care?

"What flavor do you want?"

Kyoya's eyes snapped open. The omnivore was offering to get milk for him too?

"I always get strawberry, but I know not many people like it so—"

"Chocolate."

"Okay." The omnivore smiled. "I'll be back in 5 minutes."

Hibari closed his eyes, ignoring the disgusting feeling spreading through his insides. The omnivore was cute. He liked the omnivore. _Shut up_ , he told his thoughts. Carnivores do not flock with herbivores. That was a rule. _But, the small animal was not an herbivore._ The small animal was an omnivore. Did that mean herding was okay?

No, herding was never okay.

His thoughts continued in conflicting patterns for a while longer.

 _Wait_ , he realized with a start, where was the small animal?

Five minutes had passed long ago…

Hibari got to his feet.

.

* * *

"Um, t-this is for Kyo-senpai. I d-d-don't want to g-give it to you," Tsuna tried to explain for the _n_ th time to the three big third graders who had cornered him on the way back from buying milk.

"Awww, does the little baby have a stutter?" One of the other third graders asked, smirking.

 _See! This is why Reborn told you not to stutter!_ Tsuna scolded himself.

While he was distracted, one of the other boys stepped forward, jostling him back.

"It's not fair that your mama gives you money to buy what you want. Why don't you share with us?"

"K-k-kyo-senpai wouldn't be happy if I gave this milk to you."

"Who's this Kyo kid?" one of the boys asked.

"Don't know anybody with that name. And that doesn't matter," another one said. He stepped forward, reaching for the milk.

"No!" Tsuna yelled, slapping the hand away. "You're all herby-wars!"

"He slapped me!" the kid yelled angrily. "And we're not herbivores!"

Before Tsuna could blink (Step back! His brain yelled— his body wasn't fast enough this time), he was suddenly shoved to the ground. His head hit the tile hard.

One of the third graders tackled him.

Oof.

Tsuna clutched on to the milk as tightly as he could. This was for Kyo-senpai for being so nice to him today. No one could have it but Kyo-senpai. _Do it with your dying will._

"Get off me!" Tsuna yelled, his eyes flaring bright orange. He flailed wildly, managing to elbow his attacker in the gut.

Another boy tackled him. Tsuna couldn't breathe. He was pinned down like a butterfly to a board. He felt his head smashed onto the tile. He was kissing the ground where so many feet had trod. Disgusting.

The third boy reached for the milk.

Tsuna wriggled around until the milk was out of reach.

He would not give in a single inch.

Suddenly, he felt one of the boy's shifting above, constricting his lungs so they could no longer expand. His hand was pressed down farther into the ground. He couldn't breathe. He was suffocating. He gripped the milk tighter, even as stars exploded in his head.

 _Kyo-senpai… I'm sorry…_

Suddenly, he heard a gasp above him— he could breathe. He rolled over onto his back, taking deep, shuddering breaths.

"Herbivores, for fighting within school grounds, I will bite you to death."

Kyo!

Tsuna tried to sit up, but his head was kind of hurting, so he just lay back, trying to recover.

Finally, he attempted sitting up. The three third-graders were on a heap on the floor battered and bruised. Kyoya was watching him. His expression bordered on wary as Tsuna's eyes widened at the damage done to the children.

Kyoya had done that to them, Tsuna realized. _To protect me_.

The younger boy stood up, stumbling towards his savior. Kyoya flinched back.

 _He's scared_ , a flash informed Tsuna. Elevated heart, slight sheen of sweat, that look in his eyes.

But of what?

Finally reaching Hibari, Tsuna flung his arms around the other boy. Hibari froze but made no attempt to shrug off the other boy.

"Thank you, Kyo," Tsuna sniffled. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you? I'm so useless."

The older boy seemed even more frozen now.

"Kyo-senpai?"

"Small animal," Hibari intoned. "The sight of this doesn't frighten you?"

Tsuna frowned, trying to read the older boy's facial expression. He was supposed to be terrified of something right now, or at least, Hibari expected him to be.

"Why would I be scared? It's just you, Kyo-senpai. You've been saving me all day. You're like SuperBot."

Kyoya scoffed at the comparison, clearing his throat to hide the lump. Tsuna hugged him tighter before finally letting go. His eyes met the older boy for a flash.

Sparks of amber and violet.

And _oh_ , Tsuna understood.

.

* * *

The omnivore silently followed him back to the roof. "I didn't let them take it. I know it's crushed. I'm sorry," the omnivore apologized, holding out a chocolate milk.

Hibari grabbed it wordlessly.

After they had both poked their straws through the cartridge, the omnivore spoke again.

"My uncle told me a story once. It was a story of a scorpion and a turtle. A scorpion wanted to cross a river but it couldn't swim. It called for a nearby turtle and asked him to take them both across. The turtle, at first, said no, because he didn't want the scorpion to sting him. But the scorpion said that he wouldn't sting the turtle because he needed the turtle to cross over the river, and it didn't make sense for him to hurt his bridge. The turtle thought this was reasonable and agreed. However, in the middle of the river, the scorpion stung the turtle anyway. When the turtle asked him why he had done it when both would die, the scorpion replied that it was his nature to sting and he couldn't help what he was."

Kyoya didn't understand what the omnivore was actually saying and it was irritating. Was he the scorpion and the omnivore the stupid turtle herbivore in this story? He almost reached for his tonfas, but his fingers froze in midair. There would be time for biting later, he promised himself. After he knew what the point of this was.

 _Monster!_ _Son of the devil! Your parents must have been cursed!_

Tsuna continued. "However, neither one died. The turtle replied that while it may be the scorpion's nature to sting, he had a strong shell to protect him. He delivered them both to the other side."

Hibari listened quietly.

"Reborn said that you can never despise something for its true nature. Only create shells to protect yourself from it. I'm not scared of you, Kyo-senpai, because I got to see your true nature today and I don't need any shells."

Kyoya found himself incapable of speech. He stared at the omnivore's eyes. They were warm and directed at him. Not an ounce of deceit.

Tsuna blushed dark red in embarrassment of the words coming out of his mouth.

"I'm sorry I caused you so much trouble today, Kyo-senpai. I… I promise I'll stay out of your way if you want me to. But, I was hoping…" Tsuna frowned, looking down at his scuffed SuperBot sneakers.

His voice was caught somewhere between his lungs and his throat. He exhaled uncertainly. Kyo-senpai was so much more capable and smarter and older than him. Why would he want to hang around a clumsy baby?

His mouth flopped open and shut, floundering as he tried to figure out what to say.

 _Confidence means you believe in yourself, Dame-Tsuna_.

Tsuna's head snapped up at the reminder.

 _If you want something, you have to ask for it_.

"Will you be my friend?" he asked. His voice boomed over the quiet rooftop and he flushed in embarrassment.

Kyoya started at the unexpected question. He was half-expecting the omnivore to run from him in terror still.

He stilled.

"Carnivores do not herd with lesser creatures," he felt the need to inform the small animal.

The small animal visibly deflated and trembled as though holding back tears.

"That's—"

"However, as you are a baby carnivore, we may flock together."

"Huh?"

From all the shows he watched, he knew baby carnivores needed to be watched over carefully by the other carnivores to make sure they grew up strong. Since there were no other carnivores in the area, that made it his responsibility to look after the small animal. Besides, the baby carnivore was cute.

"I thought I was a herbivore?"

"Hn," Kyoya denied, sipping up the last of his milk.

The baby carnivore looked surprised but joyous. His face lit up with a wide, bright smile.

"Does this mean I can eat lunch with you again tomorrow, Kyo-senpai?"

"Hn."

"And I can see Hibird too?"

"Hn."

"And we can take naps on the roof?"

"Hn."

"And you'll still try to hit me with those weird steel thingies?"

Hibari frowned. "Tonfas," he corrected.

"Tofa?"

Hibari narrowed his eyes.

 _Later_ , his tonfas whispered to him.

"I will wait under the sakura tree. Do not be late, small animal. I do not tolerate tardiness."

"Yata! Thanks, Kyo!"

With a squeal, the baby carnivore launched itself at him.

Was it trying to attack? No, perhaps the baby carnivore was seeking reassurance.

Kyoya patted the small animal's soft soft hair.

The baby carnivore wrapped his arms around him.

Kyoya tried not to appear as taken aback as he was. He continued patting the baby carnivore's hair.

 _Ah_ , he realized with a start. The baby carnivore was imprinting. According to the nature show, this was an important part of the bonding process.

After a few moments, the small animal withdrew and the assault stopped.

"I… I think I'm ready to go back to Tsubaki-sensei's classroom…" the baby carnivore said.

"Hn."

Just then, the door to the rooftop banged open.

"HIBARI-KUN!"

It was Arima-sensei. The only teacher brave enough to speak to him like an actual teacher. Kyoya classified him as a mid-high range herbivore, edging on omnivore status.

The sensei started scolding, but Kyoya didn't really care.

"Over all of that, you kidnapped a first grader!"

Suddenly, Tsuna spoke up.

"K-Kyo didn't k-kidnap me. He gave me a band-aid and saved me from bullies," Tsuna informed him.

"Did he?" The sensei asked smiling softly. Tsuna found himself emboldened.

"Yes, he did! Kyo is super nice."

The nice sensei looked a little confused.

"Anyway, little one, you need to go back to Tsubaki-sensei's class. She's really worried about you."

"She is?"

"Yes. Now, I know you must be scared, but I promise, you're not in trouble. Come, I'll take you back myself and make sure everything's okay."

Arima-sensei reached for the baby carnivore's hand with his signature, herbivore smile that had deceived and won over the rest of his herbivorous classmates.

Kyoya hissed.

"I will take the baby carnivore back myself," he announced, snatching the small animal's hand before the teacher could.

Maybe herbivorousness was infectious. He couldn't afford the baby carnivore contracting anything.

Stiffly, he strode past the amused teacher, dragging the baby carnivore behind him.

As he passed the teacher, he couldn't resist glaring. Trying to win over the baby carnivore with his sparkly sparkly smile when Kyoya was right there. How dare he?

Maybe he would have to reassess the herbivore teacher's status.

.

* * *

"I heard he got into a fight with third graders!"

"I heard he won!"

"I heard he made friends with a second grader!"

"No way!"

"Tsuna."

Tsuna's head snapped up from the book about airplanes he was reading.

It was Yamamoto-kun.

"Everyone's talking about what happened this morning."

"Oh," Tsuna replied awkwardly. "Really?"

Yamamoto Takeshi nodded solemnly.

Tsuna wondered if Yamamoto-kun was going to interrogate him too.

"I just wanted to say sorry about this morning. I didn't mean to laugh at you," Yamamoto-kun clumsily apologized.

"Oh," Tsuna said. "Oh. It's really fine Yamamoto-kun. Now if I think back on it, it was pretty funny."

"Takeshi."

"What?"

"You can call me Takeshi if you want. Have you ever played baseball?"

Tsuna shook his head.

* * *

 **.**

 **Hey everyone! Mmrose9 here.**

 **I'm sorry for the huge delay. I've just been wrought with college applications, capstone projects, clubs, academics, and a boat load of stress and business. I'm doing my best. :-(**

 **Anyway, I can't think of anything of note to say in this chapter. The scorpion and turtle story is a popular folk tale, though I changed the ending based on one of the versions I read of the tale.**

 **Thank you everyone who gave reviewed, liked, and Favorited this. You have no idea how much it means to me. (-:**

 **Special thanks to OperaEagle IcelynLacelett!**

 **As Always: I do not own KHR! That honors belongs to the lovely Akira Amano.**

 **Thank you for your patience,**

\- **Mmrose9**

 ***Edited 12/3/17 and 1/16/18**


	4. The Light Between Umbrellas and Gates

.

 _ **The Light Between Worlds**_

 _Chapter IV: The Light Between the Umbrella and the Gate_

 _ **Muri die viento**_

 **Walls of wind**

 ** _Notte è scesa_ **

**Night has fallen.**

 **—** **"Figlio Perduto" by Sara Brightman**

* * *

.

Reborn was the first to be called. He had just finished an assignment and was on his way to his favorite café when it happened.

A call from Iemitsu was unexpected, though not unusual. Unable to leave the _Famiglia_ long enough to visit his actual family, Iemitsu occasionally called to ask Reborn how they were doing. Reborn despised those calls. They were usually filled with Iemitsu's posturing— feeble attempts at asserting authority over what was no longer truly his. "Oh yes, how is MY son doing?"

Sighing in irritation, Reborn almost considered ignoring the call for his own peace of mind, but eventually decided that the short-term benefits wouldn't outweigh the future irritation Iemitsu would no doubt prove to be if he didn't pick up.

Later he would think on the almost and shiver. He would promise himself that no matter how annoying the man, Iemitsu's phone calls were never to be ignored.

The call was short. The shortest one they had ever shared. Only four words spoken through the entire thing.

"There's been a leak."

Reborn was on a private flight to Japan within half an hour.

.

* * *

.

Tsuna loved the day after rain. When the puddles hadn't evaporated yet, and every place he walked was scattered with fallen shards of the sky.

The roof of the Namimori Elementary had disappeared under one long, unending puddle. It didn't look like a rooftop anymore. It looked like an extension of the heavens, pinned to earth.

Seeing the rooftop covered in water, Kyo had left with an unhappy click of his tongue and a growly "Stay here, baby carnivore."

Tsuna had already waited an entire 2.7 seconds. He could resist no longer. He flung his bag down by the door to the rooftop and rolled up his uniform pants. He looked down at his SuperBot themed sneakers and wished he could be at home with his huge orange rain boots that Mama sometimes called galooshies when she was feeling whimsical.

Tsuna liked that word. Galooshies. It sounded like the splash of rain and the gloop of mud all at once. Galooshies.

Sighing in regret, he yanked off his nice shoes and socks.

 _It would be like walking on the sky_ , he thought giddily, wiggling his toes in happiness.

His toe nails were orange. Mama had painted them for him when he had stumbled upon her painting her fingers. Tsuna had originally wanted to use the little jars of paint on his lion drawing, but mama said no because the paints were just for nails (the kind on hands).

Since Mama didn't finger paint, nail painting must be the grown up version of it.

Tsuna wondered if Kyo or Reborn painted their toe nails.

Probably, he decided.

Lugging the heavy rooftop door open, Tsuna glanced around to make sure he was alone before taking a tentative step into the puddle. It barely stirred the sky. Regaining his initial excitement, Tsuna kicked his right foot up, displacing an arc of water droplets. They sparkled like small crystals before falling back with the tiniest of plunks, like a caress of harp strings. Laughing, he jumped. A crest of ripples lapped against his feet and broke across the rooftop sky.

Something in Tsuna just _sighed_. It felt like one of Kyo's piggyback rides home. Like Reborn sweeping his hand through Tsuna's auburn locks in absent affection. Like Mama's hot, soothing cooking on a terribly cold day.

The constant burning in Tsuna quelled— the rush of details and information that sometimes seemed unending and overwhelming silenced. It was peaceful and quiet in his head for once.

He imagined he was sitting in an airplane, surrounded and embraced by something warm and _his_.

 _Hush,_ the sky whispered to him. _No one can touch you when you're home with me_.

The lines were blurring.

"Baby carnivore."

He was evaporating. Dissipating like a cloud of light and sound and thought.

"Small animal."

Just another fallen shard of the sky.

" _Sawada Tsunayoshi_." His full name from Kyo's lips finally pierced through the haze. Before he could get his bearings, he was being hoisted up and slung over Kyo's hip.

It was raining again. Tsuna was drenched to the bone. Soaked past layers of skin and muscle and blood.

He sneezed.

Kyo huffed, readjusting his grip on Tsuna, before smoothly turning around and walking back to the rooftop door.

"Explain," Kyo ordered, stepping back inside.

Tsuna's words had disappeared. It was like he had forgotten how to speak. Maybe he had tried to be a part of the sky for too long. The atmosphere had no voice, so maybe it had stolen his. Closing his eyes, Tsuna burrowed into Kyo's shoulder.

Emptiness bored a hole inside him. Something was breathing under his skin. It was hot and cold, like a pain patch. It pulsated back and forth in time with his heart beat. Being next to Kyo had only made it grow more intense. It felt like he was being thrown into a boiling pot of water in the middle of an arctic winter storm.

Something in him was reaching and coming up short.

He wanted to be taken back outside again.

He had a feeling Kyo wouldn't agree.

.

* * *

.

When Hibari had returned from emptying a teacher's lounge to eat in, he crushed the odd fluttery feeling that rose when he didn't see the baby carnivore.

He saw the shoes and the bag and thought for a moment that some unfortunate herbivores were going to die today. Then, he realized that the baby carnivore had, in an unacceptably herbivorous move, decided to go barefoot on to the rooftop. It was raining. He sheathed his tonfas and dragged the door open, striding across the wet concrete towards the stupid small animal.

He swallowed down another butterfly. The baby carnivore seemed as though he was fading, growing paler by the second. He was surrounded in a faint halo of orange.

Forbidden. No children were allowed to disappear on Namimori grounds. Especially not the baby carnivore.

Kyoya called twice before losing his patience. He yanked Tsuna up onto his hip, quickly taking the small animal away from the roof where it was pouring. Streaks of rain pounded into him and the baby carnivore, as if the sky was irate.

Tsunayoshi didn't speak, just buried his face into the place where Hibari's neck met his shoulder.

The baby carnivore was too cold. Hibari brought him to the teacher's lounge before returning for the small animal's sneakers and school books.

Hibari demanded an explanation, but he supposed he could make sure the small animal wouldn't get sick first. Sickness put carnivores in a position of weakness which was completely inadmissible. He passed the baby carnivore one of his extra uniforms and ordered him to change. Tsuna obediently took the uniform to the bathroom and started peeling off his wet clothes. Hibari found a blanket in the closet.

The uniform was too big for the baby carnivore, but it would do. Grabbing a towel from his sports bag, Hibari rubbed at the small animal's damp hair, making sure it was restored to a suitable amount of fluff. Then, Hibari swaddled his baby carnivore in the soft blanket.

"Explain. Now," he ordered.

Tsuna's voice came out in a whisper. "I saw the puddle, and it looked like a huge piece of the sky, so I wanted to walk on it."

Hibari glanced at the small animal's dry shoes and gave him a meaningful glance.

"These are my SuperBot sneakers, Kyo. I couldn't get them wet and messy. And besides, I wanted to touch the sky with my toes." Tsuna smiled, as if his strange desire completely validated his ridiculous behavior.

Hibari clicked his tongue and glared.

"I didn't see the rain," Tsuna promised, shivering. "It was just so pretty." The small animal's eyes grew starry again. "It was like I was on an airplane!"

Hibari frowned. That didn't explain the orange glow he had seen. The small animal's eyes sometimes glowed orange when they sparred, but Hibari thought that was the extent of it.

"But then, when I was standing there, it felt… _allucinante_. Like I belonged. Like I was the sky's," Tsuna explained, moving his hands in wondrous, wild gestures.

Kyoya snorted, unimpressed. The small animal was a part of Namimori, making him Hibari's. As if he could belong to something like the sky.

The baby carnivore sneezed again, and _really_ , the sound shouldn't be so cute.

The small animal looked up with his big, dark, doleful eyes. His long eyelashes were still damp and lustrous from the rain. His irises were back to their usual dusky mocha and chocolate, but they looked _empty_. The little animal cast a wistful glance to the sky outside the window.

What was he thinking about to look so far away?

Hibari would have almost felt guilty for dragging him in, but guilt was a herbivorous feeling and Hibari was a carnivore.

Tsuna turned his lucent autumn eyes on him. "Are you mad at me, Kyo?" he asked, soft and apologetic.

Hibari didn't reply. Instead he moved to the spot by the baby carnivore, grabbing a school book.

"Sleep," he ordered, tucking the baby carnivore closer. The small animal stifled a yawn, resting his tousled head on Hibari's lap. Hibari didn't say anything, absently tangling his fingers into the baby carnivore's fluffy plumage. He got a sleepy smile for his efforts and something in Hibari _melted_. He tugged the small animal closer feeling a wave of possessiveness wash over him.

 _Carnivores were allowed to be possessive_ , he relented. _Only, they couldn't be possessed by anyone else_.

Tsunayoshi looked serene in the flickering bars of butterscotch sunlight that appeared and disappeared with the passage of the rain clouds across the sun. The yawning emptiness in his eyes had been replaced with fondness and affection. The baby carnivore looked content.

He was glowing orange again, Hibari noted smugly.

The effect wasn't limited to being surrounded by the sky then. Hibari was enough.

In surprise, Kyoya noticed that he himself was glowing purple. That had never happened before. He didn't know what it meant.

It probably marked him and Tsunayoshi as carnivores. Purple marked him as the apex predator, since purple was the best color.

Content with this explanation, Hibari turned back to his book.

"What are you reading?" Tsuna asked sleepily.

"Sleep."

"That doesn't sound like a very good book."

"Sleep."

"I'm not tired," Tsuna mumbled.

Kyoya gave him a pointed look. Tsuna hadn't really outgrown his nap yet, much as he liked to pretend he had. The Namimori Lower Elementary didn't have a nap time, but Tsuna usually slept during their lunch period.

" _Baby_ carnivore."

"Galooshies."

"Sleep," Hibari replied.

After a few more giggling fits, the baby carnivore's eyes were finally sliding shut. Soon, his breaths evened out.

Hibari continued reading his book, pulling the purple bento Tsunayoshi's mother had packed for him closer. He ate absently, wondering if the baby carnivore would be able to patrol today, or if it was best avoided. Hibird would be happy with all the worms out today. They didn't need to feed him, though Tsunayoshi would most likely insist that they leave at least a few seeds out.

Hibari yawned.

Classes would be resuming in 22 minutes. It was more than enough for a quick catnap. He was still glowing purple. His purple and Tsunayoshi's orange coalesced together in the air, interlacing and swirling into interesting patterns. It was quite beautiful actually, like silent fire flowers spinning and blooming in the space between them.

Kyoya made sure his tonfas were within reach before stretching out beside Tsunayoshi, instinctively taking the outside half of the couch. He pulled at the blanket until they were both under it.

Tsunayoshi instantly curled closer in his sleep, mumbling something incoherent.

The sunlight was warm and languid, inducing a dizzying lethargy that was uncommon in its sheer force.

Kyoya felt himself drop off, though not before he wrapped a protective arm around the baby carnivore.

He hated putting both of them in a vulnerable position. It was unbecoming for a grown carnivore. Usually, they'd take turns napping, but he felt inexplicably exhausted, like he had just finished a double patrol alone.

If anything disturbed their slumber, he would take care of it personally.

.

* * *

.

Tsuna woke with a start, his head jumbled.

 _Something was wrongwrongwrong_.

Waves of agitation was rolling from Kyo and Tsuna reached out instinctively to comfort and dispel. Some of the tension dropped from Kyoya's frame, though he didn't lose his fighting stance.

Kyo had his tonfas out. The sun was drowning in its own bloody sunset. Classes had ended a while ago. They had never overslept like this before. It was a horrible feeling, like something cottony was in his mouth. Luckily, the Namimori Lower Elementary didn't assign homework over the weekend. Kyo, however, would have to check for all his assignments online when they got back to Tsuna's house. Kyo was staying the night since it was Friday.

Tsuna groaned, massaging his head with one hand. It was like he had rolled on a bed of legos. His head was pounding and throbbing, screaming at him.

 _Something is wrong_ , it whispered to him.

But they were at school. What could happen to them there?

As soon as the feeling came, it left. Kyo relaxed minutely.

Tsuna convinced himself that he had just imagined it. He had seen Kyo get tensed and had panicked himself.

But his head was still pounding.

"Is everything okay?" he asked.

"Hn."

 _Let's go_ , Tsuna read in the furrow of Kyo's brow.

"Okay, but can we stop by the roof really quickly?" Tsuna pleaded.

Hibari frowned at him.

"It'll only take a second. I promise."

"Hn," Hibari reluctantly agreed.

Tsuna scampered across the third floor to the roof. His path was lined in streaks of gold, guiding him to the right place.

Sunset cast splashes and streaks of pink and orange across the scattered pools on the rooftop. The large puddle had shrunk into several smaller puddles.

Tsuna took a step outside.

" _Tsunayoshi_."

Hibari's hand was on his arm, pulling him back.

"One minute, Kyo! I need to see something."

Kyo raised a reluctant eyebrow before nodding and following him.

Tsuna's feet led him to the place. Past where the puddle was to a spot where the roof was dry. Imprinted clearly on the ground in mud was a fresh print of a shoe. A large, adult male. Tsuna's brain supplied. It wasn't the kind of shoes teachers or students wore. It was the kind for hiking and long walks.

 _It shouldn't be here_.

Tsuna looked at Kyoya, who was staring at the print darkly.

"Small animal. I am taking you home. Now," Kyo growled.

They silently ran down the three flights of stairs, quickly leaving the school grounds.

"Do you think there was a stranger at the school?" Tsuna huffed, already out of breath.

Kyo didn't reply, but Tsuna didn't expect him to.

The wind suddenly picked up, ripping across the empty street, wet and chilly. Tsuna's headache was in full force.

A stream of lightning hemorrhaged across the dark sky. The roar of thunder followed almost immediately.

The streets were muddy and flooded. Over the speakers, the inclement weather warning sounded. They had already missed the 5 o'clock song.

The last sliver of sun sunk below the horizon.

Tsuna tripped, scraping his hands and knees on the rough, uneven asphalt. Kyo was there immediately, pulling him up and dragging him forward.

His sneakers were caked in mud. Mama was going to be so mad at him.

Tsuna shivered as gusts of wind bit into them. The road ahead was blocked. There had been a car accident. Bits of glass and metal still littered the street, embedded in the mud. Car accidents were rare in Namimori.

"This way," Hibari ordered, tugging Tsuna towards the alley. They would have to take the longer way home through the back alleys of Namimori. It was so dark already, Tsuna mourned. No one had remembered them, tucked away on the third floor teacher lounge. How long had they been alone at school for? And when was that print made? The mud looked fresh. Could the person who had stepped there have been at the school when he and Kyo were dozing defenselessly on the couch?

Something in Tsuna with hackles and claws growled at the thought. Another part of him was completely and utterly terrified.

In the corner of his eye, Tsuna saw a black vehicle stop at the roadblock.

It felt like a brush of shadow on the back of his eyelids. A tiny seeping rivulet of fear, staining through his mind and smearing in the rain.

He froze, his head bursting from the force of his terrible imagination.

"Stop dawdling and come!"

He tumbled forward, his arm nearly ripped out of its socket by the force of Kyo's pull.

Someone had gotten down from the vehicle. Tsuna caught a glimpse of a hiking boot before Kyo had dragged him enough the get him moving.

Blind panic. Tsuna resisted the urge to sprint, knowing he would soon run out of energy if he did. The way home was too long to go for it now.

He followed Kyo's brisk pace, doing his best not to slip in the coagulating mud or breathe too loudly. The rain hurt, as if it was dissolving the world in its wake.

There were footsteps behind them. Slow and measured. It should be impossible to hear anything over the storm, but each step was stabbing itself into his ears.

Tsuna pushed himself to move faster. He was holding back Kyo.

.

They were at the narrowest part of the pathway when it happened. A tall chain-link gate, usually left open, had been locked. It stood, a wall of rusted iron and slippery links, destroying their path forward.

The rain was relentlessly drowning all of their hopes for an easy escape.

 _._

 _Vanno avanti…_

 _In questa grande oscurità._

.

Kyo grappled with the tarnished lock, probably considering how easy it would be to break. Frowning, he released it with an irritated glare.

"We'll have to go over?" Tsuna asked nervously.

Kyo nodded.

Tsuna already knew they wouldn't make it. They were both drenched, their soggy clothes sticking uncomfortably to their rain-kissed skin. Their slick hands were barely able to cling together without slipping. The fence would be impossible. The storm was too fierce, too relentless. They would have to either confront or—

The footsteps in the back of Tsuna's head stopped.

He whirled around, instinctively backing up towards Kyoya.

A man was standing there, underneath a black umbrella, four feet away, smiling brightly at them. It was a chilling thing, all teeth.

Tsuna shuddered, wilting like a flower.

Kyo instantly stepped forward with a snarl, shielding Tsuna behind him. He reached for his tonfas.

The man was wearing beige hiking boots and jeans. The sleeves of his gray, nondescript shirt was turning black in the rain. He reminded Tsuna of that character from Alice in Wonderland. The one that had given him nightmares. The Cheshire cat.

All of Tsuna's instincts and pinched nerves were screaming at him to grab Kyoya and run.

Gazing down at him past Kyo, the man spoke in soft, crooning Italian that carried itself over the storm.

" _Don't you want to come with me, little one? I'll get you out of this terrible rain._ "

Hibari rocked on his heels, momentarily taken back by the change in language.

Peeking from behind Kyo's shoulder, Tsuna mustered up the courage to respond.

" _No! I definitely don't want to go with you. Ever!_ "

The man laughed, as if Tsuna had personally amused him. " _I didn't know you could speak our tongue. That makes things much easier._ "

Tsuna didn't dare ask what exactly would be made easier.

" _Listen to me, bambino. If you don't come away with me now, I am going to have to take you with me by force._ "

The man cast a cold, ominous glance towards Kyo, and Tsuna's heart frosted over in bleak despair.

The look was enough of a cue for Kyo, who charged, tonfas whirling like silver tongues of fire in the darkness.

The man laughed, easily blocking the fierce strikes like rain sluicing off his umbrella.

Tsuna shivered, and quelled the urge to scream. There was nobody for them here.

A powerful pressure was building inside him. It was like everything was focusing inwards to the fallen star trapped under his skin. He didn't know what to do with it.

All he knew was that he _had_ to help Kyoya somehow.

He looked around the alley desperately, hoping his mind would show him the way out as it had done so many times in the past. His eyes scanned the alley for a flash of gold.

The scene was illuminated by a single lantern, embedded in the wall by the fence. It cast a shallow pool of pale grey light. It sparkled and reflected off the droplets of tumbling rain, like the sky was pouring down a surge of light instead of water.

There was no path lined in gold. Only grey walls and concrete and a gate that was rusted and locked and hopelessly unusable.

Tsuna drew a blank. There was no way out his mind could see.

The man with the umbrella seemed diverted by Kyo's assault until Kyo landed a hit on his stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

His eyes darkened like a purpling bruise.

He folded his umbrella away, batting away Kyo's furious strikes like they were mayflies on a summer evening.

Then, in one quick motion, he wrenched one of Kyo's tonfas away and slammed the boy against the concrete wall. The snatched tonfa clattered to the ground.

Kyo hissed like a feral cat, clawing and scratching at whatever was closest to him.

The man muttered a dark curse in response. He squeezed at Kyo's wrist until there was a _crack_ and the other tonfa was slipping out of a numb grip.

A wave of pain flared in Tsuna's own wrist and he yelped, clapping a hand over his mouth. He had been stealing closer to the first tonfa the man had wrenched away, in hope he could do something with it to save them.

At the sound of his tiny yelp, the man stilled, not turning around to look back at Tsuna from where he stood.

" _Stay in one place for me, piccolino_."

"No," Tsuna mumbled.

" _What was that?_ " the man asked, dangerously soft.

" _No! Leave us alone!_ "

The man flung Kyo across the alley. He slammed into the chain link fence, crumpling to the muddy ground like a wad of used tissue paper. Tsuna felt the pain as if it were his own.

He barely had time to scream before the man was kneeling in front of him, his thumbs digging into Tsuna's cheeks forcing his head to tilt up.

Their eyes met. The man's eyes were glacial and blue. They were frozen; the humanity and warmth inside of them killed long ago. They looked at him with cold fascination, though there was the tiniest hint of covetousness.

" _You are ethereal. Did you know that? Such a fragile and lovely child, like an innocent, little fawn. Your eyes have that wide-eyed expression, you know. Don't make me kill you, cerbiatto. Capisce?_ "

Tsuna trembled. He couldn't respond. He felt like a nebula, a combusting cloud of stardust. His eyes were flickering amber and gold again. They looked like two bright flares in the night.

The man gaped in surprise at the color change. " _No._ _Don't tell me. No way. You have flames. You're a sky—_ " The man expelled a giddy laugh— " _And they're so close to the surface too. The Estraneo would pay a bloody wedding to have you_. _You're turning out to be quite the investment, aren't you? I thought you'd already be taken by the time I got here, but it looks like I'm the first._ "

A molten tear streaked down Tsuna's cheek, like a comet. The man traced the streak down his face with a thumb, seemingly mesmerized.

 _Help…_

"I'll bite you to death!"

Like an avenging god, Hibari struck with eyes of purple fire.

The man tilted his head to avoid the blow before clamping a hand around Hibari's other wrist. His grip on Tsuna shifted slightly and Tsuna took the opportunity to bite down on one of the man's fingers as hard as he could.

With a wounded groan, the man stood up and ripped his hand free from Tsuna's teeth.

" _Oh, Piccolino, you shouldn't have done that. Now I'll have to punish you_."

Tsuna trembled apprehensively, but the man moved to fight Kyo. While his back was turned, Tsuna reached for the other tonfa Hibari had dropped.

He had just grasped it in his tiny hands when he heard a gasp behind him.

He whirled around in pure panic.

The man had lifted Kyoya up.

Tsuna watched, unable to look away.

The Cheshire man snapped Kyo's back across his knee in one fell swoop, as if he was just cracking a large twig.

The sight sprayed itself into Tsuna's eyes and he stared in a daze, trying to understand what he was seeing.

Kyo crumbled to the cold, wet ground

like a bird with a broken wing falling out of the sky.

The tonfa slipped out of Tsuna's hand and clattered into the puddle below him. Pain and distress flooded into him. His heart exploded and the shrapnel embedded itself into his lungs, rendering breathing impossible.

"Kyo! Kyo! KYO!" He screamed and wept and pleaded for some response. Kyo _shouldn't— wouldn't— couldn't—_ die.

He sobbed and it was a terrible sound, like the cries of a dying, wounded animal.

The man was whispering something. It was the last verse of an Italian song Reborn had played the recording of before, "Figlio Perduto."

" _And the boy,_ _his eyes closed, doesn't move. He's already lost._ "

Tsuna shattered. He set the world on fire with his agony.

Everything was melting in the heat.

" _Get away from him!_ " Tsuna screamed, eyes blazing pure gold.

The man reached to touch him with his left hand, and the incandescent, translucent flames that swirled from Tsuna greedily devoured the appendage, burning it to a crisp.

The man howled in pain, snatching his blackened limb back.

Tsuna rushed around him to reach Kyo.

Kyoya was unconscious, his heartbeat faint. _No_. Tsuna's flames immediately overflowed, spilling from him to Kyo. _Take the pain away. Sustain. Comfort. Protect._

A hazy blanket of sunset wrapped around Kyo, encasing him in amber. The burning in Tsuna quelled and temporarily disappeared.

What was happening? What were those flames? What was wrong with him?

.

* * *

.

Reborn had never known the meaning of the word panic before he had met Tsuna.

Iemitsu had approached him 6 years ago, cashing in a favor from a time before.

"The Family needs me now more than ever. I can't stay with Nana. I'm putting her in danger too."

Reborn said nothing.

"Just until the baby is born. Can you keep an eye on her?"

It was a big request. The kind only the Stupid Lion of the Vongola would feel no hesitation in requesting from Reborn of all people. He was the World's Greatest Hitman, not a babysitter.

At the time, Reborn couldn't possibly comprehend how much Iemitsu's request would change his life; change him. Only years later would it start becoming clear to him.

"Why don't you just assign her a security detail?"

"No one knows about her except you, Nono, and a few of mine at the CEDEF. I'd like to keep it that way. And, Namimori is a small town. Too many foreigners stand out."

Reborn sighed.

"What are you planning after the kid's born?"

"I haven't thought that far yet. Nono and the _famiglia_ need my support now more than ever."

"You're an idiot, Iemitsu," Reborn said, giving in. He would need to reassign his work to Japan for a few months. He sighed. At least he wouldn't owe a favor to the Stupid Lion of the Vongola anymore.

Precisely 6 months later, Reborn was a godfather and no longer harbored any desire to leave Japan. However, work called and he knew that if he stayed too long, it would start drawing unwanted attention.

Nana understood, though he hadn't informed her of all the particulars. That, unfortunately, was Iemitsu's job.

He visited regularly after that, drawn by the allure of the home and family that he now belonged to. He was determined to be there for all of Tsuna's milestones: his first step, first word, first tooth. After all, he was the one who had driven Nana to the hospital when her water broke.

He was also the first one (after Nana) who had gotten to hold Tsuna on that day in October, still swaddled in the fluffy orange blanket the doctors had placed him in.

He had first known it then. The truth that seemed undeniable now.

Tsuna would be the last sky he ever pledged his loyalty too.

His little godson was the only pure thing Reborn had ever known that was actually pure. He was innocent-hearted, with a lucent soul and starry, all-knowing eyes. Too trusting, too affectionate, too naive, and altogether too good to belong to the bitter broken place he knew the world to be.

Tsuna had him wrapped tight around all of his sticky, little fingers. Reborn was terribly, hopelessly, inconveniently attached, and there was no going back.

The landing had been precarious in the storm. The pilot hadn't wanted to make it, but Reborn had provided… _adequate_ persuasion.

He rushed through Namimori, reaching for the connection he harbored with his godson. An inferno of terror and grief vortexed into him from Tsuna's side.

His godson had awakened to his birthright, without any form of aid. At the tender age of 5, his body wasn't ready to handle the strain of flames. And there was really only one way for flames to awaken without bullets or pills…

Reborn knew 13 languages. He cursed in all of them simultaneously.

.

* * *

.

Tsuna froze, eyes wide in fear. He was like a deer in the headlights of a car that would never swerve. Never grant even that scrap of mercy to him.

The Cheshire man breathed in his flames like they were the aromatic air from a wax candle or a stick of incense.

" _Bellissimo_ ," he whispered, still moving towards Tsuna.

Reaching down, the man dragged a hand through his hair, yanking up painfully so he was tilting Tsuna's head back again. Tsuna reacted to the touch with a luminous flare. The flames slid off the man's gloves like they were water droplets on a pane of glass. The Cheshire man leaned down and gave Tsuna a mocking smile.

" _Are you going to listen to me now, cerbiatto?_ "

In response, Tsuna reached with his scorching hand and touched the man's face. Angry red blisters immediately bloomed across the skin, bursting like tiny explosions on the man's face. Shrieking in shock and pain, the Cheshire man stumbled back, clutching at his burning skin.

Tsuna was paralyzed.

It hit him in that moment.

He had _done_ that.

He had hurt another person.

He nearly hurled from the scent of burning flesh. He tried to breathe through his mouth, but his lungs felt like they were constricting. _Kyo…_

The Cheshire man raged and cursed. His glacial eyes were suddenly furious, blazing with hellfire. He stalked forward, eyes pinning Tsuna in place.

Tsuna screamed.

The man backhanded him across the face with his good hand, before violently throwing him onto the ground. Tsuna wailed in pain, curling up into a little ball on the wet concrete.

Reaching into his back pocket, the man with the umbrella pulled out a sleek gun.

" _I didn't want to do this, but I'll still be fetching a pretty penny from your death. You've hurt me grievously, cerbiatto. Unforgivably so, in fact._ "

Tsuna struggled to sit up, the rain mixing with his tears and blood and broken hopes.

He would dream of this exact moment for the rest of his life. A man standing above him in the shadows, a pistol aimed at his head. The rain, cold and sharp, stabbing into their figures. The wet concrete beneath him. The blood from his scrapes numbed by the cold. And Kyo, broken and crumpled behind him, dying.

Tsuna was insensate. The man reached for his head, tilting it up. " _Look at me, cerbiatto,_ " he whispered sadistically. " _I want to be looking into your pretty eyes as you die._ "

Tsuna felt an abnormal sense of calm rush through him despite his impending death.

 _Is this it?_

Tsuna pleaded to whoever was listening. _I don't care what happens to me. Just don't let Kyo die, okay? No matter what you have to take away from me, Kyo has to stay alive. You can't have his life. It doesn't belong to you._

The man above him raised his hand until the gun was level. Tsuna closed his eyes, accepting his fate. His plea had been heard. It must have.

Thunder.

And then the man fired.

Two gunshots one after the other.

There was a crash. Something had fallen. Tsuna opened his eyes and lifted one of his hands up. It was covered in something red and slick, diluted by the rain water. There was no gun shoved in his face, but his leg was on fire. It was burning worse than anything he had experienced in his life. He floated into a black haze of pain.

Suddenly, he was wrapped up in something warm. It felt like a kiss from the sun, and vaguely reminded Tsuna of coffee.

"Close your eyes, Dame-Tsuna. I'm here now."

.

* * *

.

.

 **Hi... First off: I know what I'm doing, I promise! I'm sorry for the mood whiplash in this chapter, but it needed to happen, and I promise we'll be back in no time to fluff-land.**

 **Also, I took some time to edit the previous chapters a little bit. The only major change you should know about is that Tsuna started his first year of first grade instead of his last year of kindergarten. On another note, please don't expect this to be completely accurate. I do some research, but definitely not as extensively as I maybe should...**

 **I'm sorry for the big gap in updates. It's just, things are really hard and stressful for me right now for a multitude of reasons and I am doing the best I can.**

 **Cerbiatto means fawn. Piccolino is little one. The random Italian when Kyoya and Tsuna are running is lines from Figlio Perduto. Something like: "They proceed through this intense darkness."**

 **Was it too sudden? Too much whiplash? Are you wondering what the heck I'm doing? Tell me in the comments.**

 **Future turns will have more foreshadowing. This was a sudden and traumatic event, and it was unexpected to everyone. I promise, it is all related and this plane will take off eventually. There's just some background and world-building stuff I want to do first to set up the second act which will take place... in the future.**

 **Thank you for all the comments and favorites and follows! I appreciate it so so much. It keeps me going through the bad days. I know I'm really behind on replying to comments, but I promise I will get to them (and to you KV- I'm really sorry) when I get a chance.**

 **Special thanks to team1225, OperaEagle IcelynLacelett, and Kain Vixenheim.**

 **Once again: I do not own KHR! That honors belongs to the lovely Akira Amano.**

 **EDIT 2/10/2018: I fixed a mild continuity error.**

 **Thank you so much,**

 **\- Mmrose9**


	5. The Light Between the Rain & the Clouds

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 _ **The Light Between Worlds**_

 _Chapter V: The Light Between the Rain and the Cloudy Sky_

 **" _The brain does this._**

 ** _It hides the worst._**

 ** _It is the reason we look at scars_**

 ** _and say_**

 ** _All I remember was the screaming._**

 ** _Then everything went black._**

 ** _When I woke up_** ** _the worst of it was over_." **

**—** **Clementine von Radics**

.

* * *

.

Nana stared into the tempest outside her kitchen window and the tempest stared back into her.

It was long past school hours, and the children weren't back. Even if they had hung out after school today, it was too late for them not to have returned yet.

She shifted uneasily. There was a terrible sinking feeling in her heart. Like she had swallowed a black hole and it was consuming her from the inside out.

It was raining cats and dogs and god knows what else and _her boys hadn't come home yet_.

Nana reached for the phone, but stopped. Who was there for her to call? Reborn and Iemitsu were a world away, and she had no real proof to draw them back but her own intuition and paranoia. She didn't have the Hibaris' number yet. A mistake she would rectify as soon as possible.

The kids may have decided to wait the storm out.

But Murphy's Law had always reigned supreme in her world.

And her gut feeling had never led her astray.

It dug another needle into her stomach and Nana's decision was made. Something had gone wrong. She needed to find the children _now_.

She reached into the kitchen drawer and pried open the false bottom. Reborn had given her the gun years ago. She hadn't wanted it at first. She couldn't imagine ever needing it and hadn't wanted Tsuna to accidentally find it. But, he had eventually convinced her.

She loaded the weapon, then yanked her coat around her shoulders and grabbed the keys on her way to the front door.

Just as she was about to open it, the door slammed open on its own. Nana raised the gun in sheer panic.

"Stop!" she yelled. "Or I'll shoot."

She fingered the trigger to fire a warning shot, but it didn't move. Why wasn't it firing?! She pulled the trigger again and again growing desperate.

"The safety, Nana. You have to remove the safety first. Breathe and remember what we went over."

Reborn stepped into the house, shooting her a very tired, very upset glance.

Over either of his shoulders, her boys lay limp, covered in webs of some yellow misty thing.

She shoved the gun into her pocket, her hands automatically flying to her mouth in shock.

Finally, instincts took over, and she was leading him in, locking the door behind him, and putting the tea kettle on the stove.

Reborn delicately set both kids on the dining table, and Nana finally got a full look at them.

It was strange. Their wounds were in various states of healing.

Kyoya was the worse off of the two. He was covered in mottled bruises and cuts that would likely require stitches. There was barely an inch of skin left untouched.

Tsuna had bruises on his shins and forearms. There was a dark hand imprinted on his cheek that was stinging red, and oddly enough, burn marks. They covered her baby's hands and seemed out of place. There was an odd mark on his leg that she had never seen before. Leaning forward to get a closer look, Nana found herself running for the sink, hurling.

It was a gunshot wound. Her little 5 year old had been _shot_.

Reborn was there, patting her back.

"Don't worry, Nana. I'm going to fix all of it. Just bring me some hot water and strips of cloth. Your first aid kit too, if you can."

Choking out a gasp, Nana nodded and went to fetch everything he had asked for. Her children. Her _poor, poor_ children.

When she returned, Reborn was stuffing food into his mouth, somehow making it look more elegant than it should be. He was starting to look marginally less like a drowned rat. The curly sideburns that baby Tsuna had held a strange fascination with had started drying and were already springing up.

Finally, after cleaning his plate, he stood and moved towards the pile of things Nana had gotten out for him.

"I already started healing them in the alley. I couldn't move them otherwise. I'll finish it up now."

"Can I watch?" Nana asked, already deciding that even if Reborn said no, she was staying.

Reborn shot her a deeply knowing look. "Yes."

His hands were suddenly clothed in the sun. Like thin gloves of pale honey.

And before Nana's very eyes, time transmuted, speeding up infinitesimal amounts so the bruises and cuts littering their skin were healed away. The sight defied all possibility. Those injuries would have taken months to recover from.

Her son and her unofficially adopted son were wreathed in ribbons of yellow light. Kyo was also wrapped in a hazy veil of orange. They looked nearly unscathed, as if nothing had ever happened to them. As if they hadn't been hurt and injured and nearly killed. Taking the supplies she had gotten him, Reborn cleaned and wrapped up the still healing wounds, hiding the bright yellow light under white bandages. Finally, he took two bright yellow pills from a special bottle he had left in Namimori last time he was there. When he had left it with her, he had told her not to open it, promising it wasn't anything dangerous. He administered it now to the kids, helping them swallow it down.

"This should take care of the rest and help them rebuild their strength. It's a bit of an extreme measure, but I'd rather be safe."

Finally Nana could breathe.

"Reborn, who hurt them?" She slid a finger-tip across the side of the gun thoughtfully.

Her son's godfather leaned back tiredly. "He's dead now, Nana."

Waves of relief washed over her. "Good."

A man was dead and Nana was happy about it. She couldn't muster up any guilt over her feelings. He deserved it.

There was a ball of darkness rushing through her.

"Did he suffer?" she asked.

"Nana…"

"Did he?"

"No. It was quick."

Nana swallowed down another surge of bitterness. The one who had threatened her children didn't deserve any mercy. He should have had a slow, agonizing deat—

She shook her head. What was happening to her? He was dead now. That was all that mattered.

"Who was he and how did he find us?"

"There was a leak in your husband's company. Your location was revealed. He came here to take Tsuna."

Nana shuddered, pocketing the gun again. She pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Reborn, I'm asking you again. What does my husband do? What do you do? How did you _do_ that?" she asked gesturing to the children healing on the dining table. "I'm not going to judge you. I mean, you saved their lives for goddamn sake. I just— I just need to know."

"Nana, if you fall down this rabbit hole, there's no falling back up."

"I don't care anymore, Reborn. I just want the truth."

"The truth… There is no truth here, Nana. I've told you before, we're not good people. Important, but not good. Never good."

"Tell me what little you can and I will pry the rest from Iemitsu."

Reborn turned and looked her straight in the eyes. It felt like he was measuring her. Determining what she was and wasn't ready for.

A peculiar look entered his eyes.

"I suppose I can tell you about flames."

"Flames?"

Reborn nodded in affirmation. "Flames."

He suddenly summoned a sputtering spark of yellow fire.

"Certain individuals in this world possess the unique ability to summon fire. These flames are resolutions from the soul. There are seven different types. Storm flames are red, Rain flames are blue, Lightning flames are green, Mist flames are indigo, Cloud flames are violet, and Sun flames are yellow," Reborn finished, gesturing to his own yellow flames.

"Is there a reason that they're all named after the weather?"

Reborn thought for a minute. "It relates to the position they take up for their sky."

"Sky?"

"Sky flames are the rarest and last. They're orange," Reborn said, casting a strange glance at Tsuna.

"So who can and can't summon this fire?" Nana asked calmly.

"The exact criteria is not known, though it is being studied. In general, certain bloodlines are more potent than others. For example, your marriage with Iemitsu united two extensive sky dynasties. The line of Giotto, Iemitsu and Tsuna's Italian ancestor, and your own line, the Homuras."

"My family? So Tsuna…?"

"Is one of, if not the, most powerful sky to have been born in centuries."

"Is that why he got hurt?"

Reborn winced. "Among other reasons."

"What does it mean that he's a sky? He's never set anything on fire… How do you know he has flames?"

"Typically, flames emerge in the early to late teens. Since his flames are substantially stronger, he would have likely presented earlier. However, it was streamlined further by making friends with a powerful cloud."

"Kyo-kun?"

"Latent flames hover above and around their wielder like a vague nebula. They are produced when something connects the nebula to this plane of existence. This is either a resolution, another element, or some other means. Tsuna connected his nebula with Hibari, and both their flames were brought closer to the surface. They kind of moored themselves to each other."

"I don't understand what that means."

"Okay, imagine this. Tsuna's flames are like a boat in the river. They float in the current until a rope connects them to the river bank. Hibari is like that rope. He not only allows Tsuna's flames to be expressed and connected to this plane, but also brings them closer to the shore. He provides stability and makes sure Tsuna doesn't get lost in the current of the stream."

Nana nodded excitedly in partial understanding. "Yes! I've noticed that. Kyo-kun keeps Tsuna focused. He used to have his head in the clouds so much more before they met."

"In the same way, Tsuna has provided this child with a metaphysical home. It's an attractive concept to elements. Someone who offers perfect understanding, acceptance, and love. Once both sky and element are in full harmony with each other, they bond, exchanging flames. Typically, skies are supposed to hold off on bonding until they get older."

"Why?"

"Well, in a sky-element bonded relationship, there's a certain amount of codependence which is not completely healthy for kids to share. Additionally, the constant exchange of flames that happens in a bonded pair makes it dangerous if the exchange ever pauses or stops."

Nana winced at the silent implication of the statement. Reborn shot her a small, apologetic glance.

The tea kettle started screaming. Nana immediately stood to assuage it.

"Clouds are the pickiest of all elements, so it's impressive that they managed to find each other at such a young age."

"Have they already bonded?"

"From what I've seen, I would think it's safe to say yes."

Reborn looked unhappy.

"What's wrong?"

"I would have liked to find out a little more about this cloud before Tsuna and he bonded together. Now, it will be impossible to pull them apart from each other."

The previous times Reborn had come, he had only stayed for a day or two. He had barely met Kyoya; only seen the cloud with Tsuna sometimes.

Nana frowned at him getting out two cups. "Kyo-kun is a wonderful child. He keeps Tsuna safe from the bullies at school. They eat lunch together every day, and most importantly, he makes Tsuna deliriously happy. There is nothing for you to investigate. Tsuna was over the moon for you both to finally meet."

Reborn's eyes softened as he looked at the baby cloud. "And I suppose he protected Tsuna today."

"He almost died for him," Nana agreed, handing Reborn a cup of tea.

Reborn sipped the tea silently.

"Now, I have to ask, what does this have to do with my husband's job?"

"Your husband and I live in a world where everybody has flames or at least knows about flames."

"How can the rest of the world not know? How can you keep something so big a secret?" Nana asked, forcing the hysteria out of her voice.

"The world we live in is… _invested_ in keeping the secret."

Nana laughed. It sounded unhinged, so she stopped. "If they are real flames, how could you use yours to heal?"

"The flames have different abilities. They're not all just fire. But that's an explanation for another day."

Nana nodded in acquiescence.

"I just have one more question… Will anybody else try this again?" she asked nervously. "Will anyone try to kill Tsuna again?"

Reborn looked guiltily down at his teacup. "I want to say no, Nana, but…"

Reborn fell silent. Nana patted his hand reassuringly.

"Help me move the kids upstairs and I'll enable the security system on the house," she said, trying to sound more optimistic than she actually was.

"I'll be staying for a while this time. I won't leave until everything is secure and you both are safe again," Reborn promised.

Nana reached and gave her son's godfather a quick hug. _Nothing was his_ _fault_ , she reminded herself. He had saved Tsuna and Kyoya. She owed him everything.

"Thank you, Reborn."

.

* * *

.

The first time Tsuna woke up, he could hear someone on the phone, speaking in rapid-fire Italian. He was tucked under the blankets in Mama's bed, and it felt like being in a furnace. He couldn't open his eyes. His eyelids were too heavy.

Something was missing. Like a jigsaw puzzle with a missing piece. He turned over and fell into warmth.

A rush of yellow light filled the blackness. "Zio…" he whispered in a croak. An arm tugged him closer. Tsuna felt the burning subside as something left him. The soft buttery fire took its place.

The person speaking Italian stopped for a moment before resuming. " _Bodyguard_ ," Tsuna made out. " _Safe_."

The voice felt familiar and close. A hand tracing down his back, ruffling his hair. The person on the phone hung up and sighed.

Tsuna got the feeling he was being looked at.

Suddenly, words accompanied by a rush of sun-filled warmth.

" _I almost lost you once, vita mia. Mai più, never again._ "

The last thing Tsuna heard before falling back asleep was one of the old Italian lullabies that his Zio used rock him asleep with.

" _Who should I give this child to? If I give it to the Black Wolf, he'll keep him for too long. Ninna Nanna, ninna oh._ "

.

* * *

.

The next time his eyes opened, Tsuna woke up in a world that was too bright, too loud, and altogether, too much.

He was alone, tangled in the rough, pokey bed sheets that were practically stabbing into his skin. The light spilled from the window, burning his eyes with its intensity.

Oh, _god_. It was far too much. He couldn't move, couldn't do anything but drown in the sudden incursion of information and meaning that shattered over him. It was as though he was sitting under a churning ocean and the waves were crashing over and over him and every time he opened his mouth to breathe he got a mouthful of briny, brackish saltwater.

He was surrounded by the afterimages of Kyo and Mama and Reborn?

He blinked and orange panes of glass were sliding smoothly across his vision, muting his senses.

The bed sheet was soft again. The light was pale and beautiful.

Kyo wasn't there, though he usually waited for Tsuna to get up. He had probably already gone down for breakfast.

Leon snoozed on Kyo's pillow.

Wait. Leon?

That could only mean his Zio really was here.

Tsuna tried to stand up, but his body felt stiff, like there were stones weighing him down.

With a great heave, he rocked up and stood frozen. For a second, the carpet felt like a bed of thorns, but the sense was quickly dulled by the orange glaze.

His legs didn't hurt. But why had he expected them to?

He slowly walked towards the door and made his way down the stairs.

That's odd. His sneakers were usually by the front door. Maybe Mama had put them away for him? She usually made him do it on Friday when he got home.

He would ask her later.

Walking had suddenly become a colossal effort. Shuddering, Tsuna leaned against the wall and inadvertently started sliding down as his mind hyper focused on the feel of the hardwood against his bare feet.

The wood was dark, honeyed almost. It was smooth in the light and had a kind of glaze over it. The pattern was wavy, characteristic of the kind of trees the playground bench was made of. The two were made of the same materials. Similarly, the lunch tables in the regular school cafeteria had a different grain pattern. That likely meant that though the colors were similar, the woods were different. The glaze felt smooth, like a pane of glass. It was a thin layer between his foot and the wood, minutely shaping itself to mirror the bumps and crevices of the paneling. When he pressed his foot against it, it was almost as though the imprint of the wood was burning itself on to the bottom of his foot. The glaze was not transparent.

Mama was there.

"Tsu-kun?"

Her voice felt like honey with a hint of lemon. Like a cough drop or a lozenge. Soothing and cool on the back of a burning throat. It was soft and melodious, like she was singing while she spoke.

"Tsu-kun?"

When he blinked, he was seated in the kitchen. Everything was a cool orange. Kyo was sitting next to him. Tsuna gave him a warm good morning smile, yanking his seat closer so he could curl up next to his friend. Kyo was grumpy as usual. Tsuna felt unusually relieved for that simple fact. He turned to his plate. In front of him was…

"Reborn!" Tsuna yelled happily, rushing out of his seat to glomp his godfather. "You're here early! Did you miss me?"

Reborn returned the hug. "No," he answered slowly, his voice oddly choked up.

"Well I did! Lots and lots." Tsuna squeezed his godfather one more time before joyously bounding to his seat next to his best friend.

Kyoya looked less happy. He fiercely scowled at Reborn.

"Is everything okay?" Tsuna whispered, bewildered at Kyoya's sudden displeasure.

"Tsu-kun! Don't whisper at the table. It's rude."

"Sorry, Mama."

Tsuna had forgotten to give her a hug this morning. He was a little out of it today. He immediately moved to remedy the situation. Mama held him longer and tighter than he had expected.

"Go on back to your seat, Tsu-kun," Mama told him with a soft pat to his head.

Tsuna returned to his chair and looked carefully between Reborn and Kyo.

Oh! He hadn't introduced them properly yet!

"Reborn! This is my best friend, Kyo!"

Reborn looked up, an indecipherable expression on his face.

"Kyo, this is my favorite godfather, Reborn."

Kyo glared something fierce.

At the awkward silence, Tsuna gave a pointed look to Reborn.

"Hello, Kyoya. Tsuna's told me a lot about you."

"Hnn."

Tsuna sighed, trying to hide his disappointment.

Nana served all three of them food fresh from the stove before taking a seat herself. Tsuna ran to fill her glass of water.

When he sat back down again, he gave one ravenous glance at meal before inhaling his food down. He felt like he hadn't eaten in days.

"Reborn, can Kyo and I go out and find Hibird after breakfast? I want to introduce him to Leon!" Tsuna asked cheerfully, after finishing.

Mama made a weird sound and Kyo rustled. Reborn shot him an incomprehensible look. "Not today, dame-Tsuna. Maybe sometime else."

"Okay. If you say so," Tsuna reluctantly agreed. Why was Reborn being so weird? Tsuna glanced at the door, finally remembering another matter of importance. "Mama, have you seen my SuperBot sneakers? I can't find them by the door."

Everyone froze. Tsuna gazed back innocently, chewing his omelet.

Reborn suddenly stared at him, deeply concerned. It was a strange look on his face. Like a mild creasing of paper on the edges of his eyes and lips. Tsuna half expected it to be covered with Reborn's hat any second now.

"Tsuna," Reborn started gently. "Do you remember what happened yesterday?"

A rush of ice freezing in the crevice of his bones.

"K-kind of."

"Can you tell me what you remember?"

Tsuna ignored him, springing up to put his plate in the sink. Mama was looking at him with sad eyes and he couldn't stand it. "I finished my workbook, Reborn. Even though you came home early."

"Tsuna?"

Tsuna bit his lip. He knew he was being rude, but he didn't want to talk about it. "All of the exercises. I did a little bit everyday. Mama helped me with the CD."

"Tsuna."

"The writing part was hard, but Mama said you could help me with—"

" _Tsuna_."

Reborn's voice was low and stiff in warning. Tsuna knew Reborn didn't like scolding him, but he also knew Reborn wouldn't stand for disrespect. Almost unwittingly, he glanced at Kyo.

Cool gray eyes met his.

Tsuna reached out for Kyo's freely given hand, before turning back to Reborn.

"C-can I tell you later?" Tsuna begged.

Reborn shot him an impenetrable look. "Can you tell me now?"

Tsuna whimpered. "I- I don't…" Tsuna mumbled.

"What was that?" Like a prickling of thorns. Reborn's voice sounded like the shattering of glass.

"I don't want to!"

Everything was too bright. It burned.

Tsuna's eyes flashed orange. His plate was on fire. The translucent orange flames spilled on to the table and set it alight. With a terrified gasp, he wrenched his dangerous hand away from Kyoya and bolted out of the room.

He knew it.

It hadn't been a dream.

It was all real.

 _He was a monster._

.

* * *

.

Tsuna rocked back and forth on the old, rusted playground swing. Kyo and Reborn were probably going to be coming soon. He was probably going to get scolded. Mama would be so disappointed.

Tsuna resisted the tears that were burning on the corners of his eyes. _Go away_ , he told them harshly. _You're not allowed to fall_.

"Yo, Tsuna! What are you doing here today?"

Tsuna's head whipped up to see Takeshi, his classmate.

"Takeshi-kun! Hi!" Tsuna greeted trying to inject cheerfulness into his voice and expression.

"What's the matter Tsuna-kun? You look a little down…"

Tsuna winced dropping his bright - _fake_ \- smile. "You can just call me Tsuna, Takeshi-kun. Anything else just sounds weird."

"Then call me Takeshi!"

"Ummm… okay?" Tsuna reluctantly agreed.

"So why do you look so sad?" Takeshi asked narrowing his eyes and leaning closer.

"No reason." Tsuna replied, tilting away.

"Come on, Tsuna, you can tell me. I'm good at keeping secrets. I promise."

He hesitated.

"Would it help if I told you a secret first?"

Tsuna bit his lip, thought for a second, then nodded. Takeshi slid into the swing next to him. Tsuna frowned at the sudden closeness, edging away.

"I want to be a professional baseball player when I grow up," Takeshi solemnly announced.

Tsuna laughed.

"That's not a secret, Takeshi."

"Well I guess not. But, I don't have your kind of courage, Tsuna. You fearlessly told everyone what your dream was on the first day of class, but I haven't told anyone mine yet because... because I was scared if I did, it wouldn't come true. But then, one day in class, you said that the more people who know about your dream, the more likely it is to come true because saying out loud makes it more real. I never thought about it that way before. So I decided that if I could tell anyone, it should be you first."

Tsuna felt oddly touched. "I'm the first person to hear your dream?"

"Yup! I'm going to be a pro baseball player and you're going to be a pilot. We're brothers-in-arm now."

"Brothers-in-arm?"

"Yes. We're both fighting for our dreams together now. So, will you tell me what's wrong?"

Tsuna rocked back and forth as he thought. _Brothers-in-arm._ The word danced through him like rain ricocheting off sun-speckled cobble stones.

"Okay…" he finally agreed, stretching out his agreement and swinging warily away from Takeshi.

He turned to face his friend.

"I think I hurt somebody yesterday. Really badly…"

Takeshi frowned. "Did you say sorry afterwards?"

"No… It… It wasn't like that. I didn't get a chance to. I— I burned them."

"Burned them? With what? A match? A lighter?"

"No. With… um… my hands."

"Are you sure it wasn't just a dream?"

"It wasn't!" Tsuna huffed with a glare.

"Maa, maa, I was just making sure. Sorry."

"I didn't have anything on me… I don't know how I did it. I— They were hurting Kyo and I just— I don't know…"

"So you were protecting Hibari-san?"

Tsuna nodded silently.

"Isn't okay to hurt people if you're keeping someone you love safe? That's what my dad says."

"No— that's… Yes? I— I don't know."

"What would have happened if you hadn't burned this person?"

"They would have hurt me, and then they would have hurt Kyo."

"So would you rather that have happened?"

"No! Of course not! It's just… I didn't want to—"

"Didn't want to what?"

Tsuna paused, looking straight into Takeshi's milky brown eyes.

"I didn't want to have to hurt anyone," Tsuna whispered, his voice shuddering. "I'm a monster…"

Takeshi stared into him.

Chocolate and sunset orange.

Tsuna trembled under his glance.

"No, Tsuna. You're not a monster."

"What?! How do you know?"

"I can look into people's souls."

"Really?! You have that ability?!" Tsuna asked excitedly.

"Yes. It's passed down in my family," Takeshi explained with a sage nod. "Monsters don't feel bad about hurting others. My dad said that sometimes, even if we don't want to, we have to hurt people. But, if hurting them still hurts us, then we're still human. And, it seems like you're hurting a lot right now, ne Tsuna?

Takeshi looked up.

"Wait! Why are you crying?!"

Tsuna bawled louder.

"Don't cry! I don't have any tissues."

Tsuna sniffled, trying to stop the downpour.

"You can use my shirt."

Tsuna laughed through his tears. It was like the sun shining through the rain. A sunshower. A kitsune's wedding.

Takeshi reached out to give him a hug. Tsuna flinched away.

"What's wrong?" Takeshi sounded hurt.

Tsuna thought for a minute. He was a human, so it should be fine, right?

"I forgot I wasn't a monster anymore," he explained to his friend.

Takeshi laughed and reached out again.

He accepted the hug.

A sudden rush of blue fire overwhelmed him. It slithered through the cracks in his orange sky and shattered it. He was spilling into the space between them. He was falling into an unfathomable blue ocean. Sunset and Sky-blue orbs were colliding and shattering into each other.

Tsuna collapsed onto the floor as soon as his orange-purple- _blue_ sky settled again. He felt weak.

"Ts-tsuna?"

That was Takeshi.

He couldn't respond. He was an ocean without waves. A still flood.

"Get away from him, baseball herbivore."

"Hibari-san?"

"Move."

Purple sparks in the back of his eyelids. Warmth, _home_.

The purple was joined by a rush of blue. _Calm_.

"You can't just-"

"I can and I _will_. Don't try me, herbivore."

"Let me come with you! Tsuna told me what happened. I can—"

"No."

There was a yelp.

Tsuna opened his eyes to see Kyo swinging a tonfa at Takeshi. They both moved away and Tsuna shakily stood up. The blue and purple tints quickly left his vision, as if it was dependent on Takeshi and Kyo's closeness. Perhaps it was.

Everything was getting brighter and louder as they moved farther and farther away.

The swings creaked in the breeze. Tsuna's senses wrapped tight around the sound, converging in on it.

Oh no.

The scrape of metal was a thousand dying screams. Like claws slowly dragged down chalkboards. Like emergency sirens and fire drills and pain. Terrible, terrible pain. The noises merged together into pure cacophony, like a nightmare orchestra was serenading a lusus naturae.

Tsuna covered his ears with his palms. They touched something wet. In dumb shock, he look at his hand. It was covered in sticky red blood. His ears were literally bleeding.

"Kyo…" he whimpered.

.

* * *

.

Hibari turned in alarm. He ignored the wide-eyed herbivore in front of him and moved towards his baby carnivore.

Tsunayoshi was clutching at his ears. His hands were bloody.

Hibari's heart secretly sunk at the sight.

He glared at the baseball herbivore. It had been a distraction. He should have been better.

Hibari froze at the thought that had been rattling him since yesterday. _He should have been better_.

"Kyo…" Tsunayoshi whimpered again.

Hibari reached over and picked up the small animal. The baseball herbivore followed wordlessly behind him and Hibari ignored it. He had more important things to deal with.

He returned to the Sawada Household. The undefinable animal was waiting at the threshold with his green lizard. He moved forward in alarm upon seeing Tsunayoshi bleeding.

"Fix him," Hibari demanded.

The undefinable animal gave him an unimpressed look before carefully taking the baby animal. The small thing whimpered pitifully and Hibari felt the urge to hide him in a cave somewhere far away from stupid herbivores and strangers who herded in the rain.

"What happened?"

Takeshi answered in Hibari's stead. "I gave him a hug, but then he collapsed and his ears started bleeding! It was like _woah_! Is he going to be okay?!"

Hibari sent a death glare to Takeshi for talking for him, but the other boy didn't seem to notice.

"No, Reborn! It wasn't Takeshi-kun's fault!" Tsunayoshi sniffled from his spot in the undefinable animal's lap.

"I told you Tsuna. You can call me Takeshi!"

"Oh… Sorry."

"Both of you stop talking for a minute," the undefinable animal ordered.

"Hn," Hibari agreed. He narrowed his eyes at the baseball herbivore. Being so improperly casual with anyone after limited contact should be strictly prohibited. Perhaps it needed to be added to the Namimori Gakuen Rule Book. At least then he'd have a strong basis to bite the baseball herbivore to death.

The undefinable animal closed his eyes for a second before sighing in irritation. The dark eyes flitted open, tenderly focusing in on the child in his arms.

"Oh, Dame-Tsuna… Another one, really?"

"What do you mean, Zio?" the baby carnivore asked baffled.

"You need to learn to reign it in."

"What?"

The baseball herbivore smiled for absolutely no reason and Hibari continued to mentally revise the rules list.

Mama called from the kitchen. "Boys! Come in to finish breakfast before it gets cold!"

Takeshi's expression froze in sudden reluctance.

"You can join us," Tsunayoshi offered to dumb baseball herbivore.

"Really?! That would be great! I'm hungry!"

Hibari frowned before striding into the house.

"Wait! Kyo?! What happened?"

The baby carnivore chased after him, trailed by the baseball herbivore who was still laughing.

The undefinable animal stayed for a moment longer on the porch, staring off into the distance between following the rest of them.

.

* * *

.

"Kyo! I'm sorry. I shouldn't have run off…" Tsuna apologized. He fiddled nervously with the edge of his pajama shirt, his autumn eyes firmly pointed at the ground.

They were outside. Takeshi had left to play baseball in the park while Reborn was sitting in the patio chair on his phone, keeping a distant, yet careful eye on them. Kyoya was hitting his tonfas against the wimpy tree in the backyard.

Tsuna bit his lip and kept speaking. "I was scared of… hurting you and Mama and Reborn. That man in the rain… You could fight, but I was so helpless… Something in me just… —I did something bad to him. I can't remember it. I don't want to hurt anybody again, but Takeshi says I might have to. So, if it means protecting you, or Mama and Reborn, I would do it again! I'm sorry. I'm not… I'm not the same anymore. I'm a bomb and everyone's going to blow up because of me."

Temporarily taken aback, Hibari's hands slowed to a halt.

"Do you hate me, Kyo-nii?"

His friend's eyes widened.

Tsuna re-ran what he said in his head and blushed. He had called Kyoya his older brother.

 _Well_ , he mused, _it was kind of true_. Like Reborn, Kyo was already an integral part of his family.

His friend sighed and dropped the tonfa. Tsuna found himself pulled into a sudden hug.

Fragment by fragment, piece by piece, Tsuna let himself break again. He dissolved into light and flame. He was orange and purple again. He was melting into an increasingly overpowering sense of _home_.

Slowly, as he sat with his best friend on the damp earth, he finally put himself back together again.

Humpty Dumpty he may be, but his horseman had no match in any universe.

He was better now. Stronger than before he had fallen down the garden wall.

"I don't flock with lesser creatures."

Tsuna flinched, but Kyo merely ruffled his gravity-defying hair.

The cloud met eyes with the sky.

"I know who you are, Sawada Tsunayoshi. And I don't need any shells."

.

* * *

.

 **Hey everyone!**

 **First chapter of the year!**

 **Special thanks to Yolea Irk's and everyone who has favorited, followed, and reviewed. This story has already grown past my imagination.**

 **The lullaby Reborn sings to Tsuna is Ninna Nanna Ninna Oh.**

 **Humpty Dumpty is one of my favorite nursery rhymes of all time.**

 **Please review and tell me what you think! If you have any questions, I am always willing to answer them.**

 **Thank you so much for reading.**

 **I do not own KHR, that honor belongs to the lovely Akira Amano.**

 **Happy New Year.**

 **EDIT 1/16/18: I fixed a mild continuity error.**

 **EDIT 2/10/18: I fixed up another minor error and changed some of the conversation at breakfast.**

 **\- Mmrose9**

 **.**


	6. The Light Between Love and Desperation

.

 _ **The Light Between Worlds**_

 _Chapter VI: The Light Between Love and Desperation_

 **"do you know what it means**

 **for your existence to be defined**

 **by someone else's intentions?"**

 **—** **Clint Smith**

.

* * *

.

Reborn and Tsuna had taken Kyoya home Saturday evening. While the two boys went to play with some bird in the yard ("It's not just ' _some bird_ ,' Reborn. Her _name_ is Hibird!") Reborn had entered the traditional Japanese manor to introduce himself to the Hibaris.

Their conversation had been… interesting. In retrospect, it probably shouldn't come as any shock that the kid his godson had given a piece of his soul to was Fon's nephew.

He was still working out how he could best use this information.

The Hibaris had not been surprised to learn of the two children's bond. "Kyoya has been more calm recently," Hibari Sakura had explained tranquilly.

Nor had they been angry about the assassination attempt.

"We knew it would happen eventually. It's unfortunate that it had to happen so early. It's a sign that it's time to start Kyoya's lessons in earnest," Hibari Haise sighed out.

Resigned. That was the best way to describe their attitude. Resigned and tired.

Hibari Sakura had been the Chief of Police of Namimori for almost a decade now. Hibari Haise had been the Oyabun of his clan ever since Sakura had shot his father. He was rumoured to be retired now, having passed the leadership over for his family and for the business he started a few years ago.

Their passionate love story seemed almost unbelievable in front of the two faces of ice and stone in front of him.

They were warm and kind to their son and Tsuna though, and that should be enough.

Reborn wasn't used to warm welcomes from anyone but his godson. He was an albatross— a hitman. He portended only misfortune and death. That was the path he had chosen.

.

* * *

.

Tsuna woke up screaming. His dreams were tangled labyrinths of darkness and blood. The fragmented melody of "Figlio perduto" ricocheted around his head like the amalgamated resonances of the nightmarish incident were trapped between the folds of his brain. An echo that never dissipated in the hollow cavity of his skull.

Reborn was holding him through shuddering wails that bubbled up from the place inside of him that was still bleeding and raggedly torn.

"I've got you, Tsuna. I'm here."

Tsuna sobbed louder, curling deeper into Reborn's flannel pajama shirt. Reborn sighed, carefully tucking Tsuna closer and lying back on his bed.

"It was cold… the gate was locked."

Reborn grasped him tighter, as if he could hide Tsuna away from all of the monsters merely by holding him here, like this.

"He was following us with an umbrella. When he found us near the locked gate, he was smiling. He… he smiles with his teeth. He was humming. The song you showed me once." Tsuna grew more and more desperate in his explanation— his frequent gasping breaths making his voice raspy. Sparks sizzled into the space above them. "The one where the daddy and the son are riding in the dark together and the boy is sick so the father is taking him to the doctor, b-but then the… Elf King c-comes to the boy and t-tells him that unless he came away with him he would— and… and—"

"Figlio perduto," Reborn interceded quietly.

"I didn't understand the song before but I do now. The boy dies at the end of it. Doesn't he?" Tsuna asked desperately— his words almost incomprehensible from the sheer magnitude of air hollowing them. Tsuna repeated it as if he couldn't say anything else. "He dies. He dies. He dies. He dies. He—"

"Tsuna, hush. Match my breathing," Reborn commanded, making his breaths slow and discernible. "Breath for breath. Follow me. In and out. In and out."

Tsuna's breathing slowed.

"You are alive, Tsuna. You and Kyoya survived. You are alive and your cloud is too. You are alive. You are alive. _You are alive_." Tsuna's flames were near the surface— about to explode out again to light the world on fire. Almost against his volition, Reborn's flames instinctively reached to Tsuna's— cradling them— gentling them in a cocoon of caramel and honey.

Tsuna instantly calmed, his flames leaning into Reborn's. They breathed together in silence for what seemed like forever.

Tsuna finally broke the silence.

"It hurts."

"What does?"

"Everything. I… I don't want to die, Reborn," Tsuna explained, tears welling up and clinging to his long eyelashes. "It's scary. I don't want anyone to die… It hurts too much."

"You won't die, Tsuna. I'm here now. I'll always come whenever you need me until you're strong enough to not need me."

"I'll always need you."

His godfather sighed but continued to rub circles and other geometric designs on his back.

Tsuna's thoughts tumbled from his lips again.

"What about you? Who comes for you?"

Reborn was silent for a moment before replying. "I'm strong, Tsuna. I don't need anyone to come running for me."

A few seconds passed.

"Do you think you can sleep now, brat?"

Tsuna wordlessly turned over, making eye contact with Reborn.

"I'll come running for you."

"What?"

"If you need me," Tsuna explained awkwardly, "I'll come running no matter where you are."

A harsh, dismissive response was perched on his lips, fueled by fear. _Tsuna should never promise anything like that to him of all people-_ but Reborn reigned it back. Any comment along those lines would just be taken the wrong way and hurt his godson's fragile feelings.

"Dame-Tsuna, you're still a kid. You don't need to protect me," Reborn dissuaded.

"But I want to."

"But _can_ you?" Reborn insisted as gently as possible.

Tsuna paused, thinking intensely for a moment.

"Maybe… maybe not right now. But one day, I will. And… there are other ways of helping people. Maybe I wouldn't be able to save you, but I could still do something else."

He didn't deserve his godson's affection. Some careless god must have erred in their karmic calculations.

"You don't need to do anything for me, Tsuna. You've already… you've already saved me. This conversation is moot. Go to sleep."

The resulting silence lasted for 5 seconds.

"But how have I saved you? I've not even done anything," Tsuna asked incredulously.

 _No, no, no. Reborn was the world's greatest hitman. He refused to have this conversation._

But the words were already spilling out, drawn by Tsuna's flames' pull towards understanding and honesty.

"You saved me by simply being."

Tsuna quirked his eyebrows and made the same face Nana made whenever she thought somebody had said something particularly stupid. The similarity was so striking, Reborn momentarily felt like laughing.

"I don't have to explain myself to brats. I'm not having this conversation with you."

Tsuna huffed and pleaded wordlessly with his wide, dark eyes.

Reborn's only weakness was his greatest strength.

His words were too much and too tender for Japanese. He switched to Italian.

" _It's enough if you know that I carry you with me wherever I go._ "

" _I carry you too._ "

"I know."

Tsuna waited for more, but none was forthcoming.

Reborn started humming the lullaby he had always sung, and Tsuna reflexively yawned, feeling a wave of sleepiness descend like a warm, heavy blanket. He frowned at his godfather's sneaky move.

Finally, it was too much.

"Ti voglio bene," he whispered into Reborn's heart before his eyes closed.

"Anch'io," Reborn whispered back. Soft, so the world wouldn't hear and conspire to rob him of this fortune.

Reborn really did not deserve Tsuna at all.

.

* * *

.

"Tsu-kun!" Nana called out in surprise. Her baby was rubbing his eyes in exhaustion, but sat in his school uniform, his backpack beside him, packed. "You don't have to go to school today."

It was already Monday. Nana wasn't ready.

"I'm okay, Mama. I promise. I… I want to go to school today."

"You look sick."

Nana had stayed awake all night, hearing her baby scream and cry from the nightmares. The terrors she could do nothing about.

She had never felt so helpless in her life.

"I don't feel sick… just tired."

"Come here, Tsu. Let me take your temperature."

Yawning in acquiescence, Tsuna moved towards her.

Nana pulled out the thermometer.

"Say, ah!"

"Aaah."

37.8℃

Perfectly normal. Tsuna always ran a little hot.

"Arara, Tsu-kun. You've got a slight temperature. I think you need to stay home today. I'll make you Salisbury steak so you can recover fast."

A dark flicker by the kitchen door stared disapprovingly at her. She ignored it.

Tsuna was shooting her a funny look. He had always had an uncanny ability to tell when she was not being entirely honest with him.

"Here. Go up and change into your pajamas then come down and we can watch SuperBot together today. I recorded the new episode for you yesterday."

Tsuna's eyes went wide. He had slept past the cartoons Sunday, over-exhausted from lack of sleep.

He stood up, but still hesitated.

"Go on, Tsu-kun. Mama has to call the school, ne?!"

Tsuna nodded reluctantly, greeting his godfather as he brushed past him in the hall.

"Bribery, Nana? Really?" Reborn asked, somewhere between amused and accusing.

Nana ignored him again.

"If he wants to go to school, that's a huge step forward."

"I don't care. I can't send him out there yet."

Reborn frowned.

"He's my baby, Reborn. I can't… I almost lost him. I can't let him out of my sight. My heart's too uneasy."

Reborn face was ducked under his fedora. He didn't say anything for a few seconds.

"I'm going out today. The house is currently protected, but I'll be back soon. Is that okay?"

Nana wordlessly nodded.

.

* * *

.

Tsuna was curled up on her lap and Nana finally felt like she could breathe.

From the time she was a new mother, cradling her infant at her hip, to now, bundling her child closer beside her on the sofa, being with Tsuna had always calmed her. Whispers of comfort and covert joy.

They had already watched the new episode 3 times, but Tsuna had stared up at her with pleading eyes… " _Just once more, Mama_ …" and of course Nana had given in.

"What do you like so much about the episode?" Nana asked curiously.

Her son raised his sleepy head and looked back at her.

"SuperBot wants to be human."

"So?"

"He wants to be human so he can understand sadness and pain. He wants to know how to make other people feel better, which he can't do if he's never sad or hurt."

Nana contemplated the explanation for a minute.

"Do you think he had to go through sad and painful events to be able to make others feel better?"

Tsuna hesitated.

"He didn't _have_ to, but because he did, he can understand more."

"What does he understand now, Tsuna?"

"He understands that defeating sadness and pain is hard, so when he says he knows how it feels, he's being truthful."

"But how does knowing that give any comfort?"

"He can see the world like them now. He knows sadness and pain, but can also see the happiness better. Now that he knows about being hurt, he can learn about how to heal."

"SuperBot didn't heal alone," Nana pointed out.

Tsuna nodded in agreement. "The people he loves helped him. Just like the people I love help me."

Nana smiled, content.

They watched the new episode another 2 times before Nana finally put her foot down.

After lunch, Nana sat with Tsuna to try and get some of his school work done. She had already taught him most of the things he was learning, as she initially wasn't sure where she would be enrolling him and what Tsuna would be required to know.

"I like this one," Tsuna confessed, pointing to the kanji for sky. "It looks like one of SuperBot's rocket launchers."

Nana laughed.

"This one too," he said pointing at 'airport.'

Nana remembered that Tsuna wanted to be a pilot when he grew up. She wondered how long he would be this close to her. Would he drift apart from her when he finally became a teenager? An adult?

Would he forget all of these moments together in the future?

Would they merge together like warm droplets of rain into a lukewarm puddle of content? A blurred smattering of happiness to be sighed over when nostalgia hit?

" _Yes, I had a happy childhood."_

"What's your favorite kanji, Mama?"

Nana thought over the question.

"I don't know, Tsu-kun. There are too many that Mama likes."

"What about phrases?"

"Well, I guess one comes to mind. 物の哀れ. _Mono no aware_ ," she read out loud after writing it.

"What does it mean?" Tsuna asked.

"The beauty and sadness of things that don't last forever."

"Why are they beautiful?"

"Because knowing you had them even for a moment makes you feel like your life meant something."

Tsuna scrunched up his eyebrows, puzzled.

"I don't understand, Mama."

"You will one day."

Tsuna pouted.

He always hated being told there were things he couldn't understand yet.

"Are you going to work on your Italian today?" Nana asked, half changing the subject, half curious. While she abhorred the cause of the study, the language itself was beautiful.

Tsuna nodded glumly. "Reborn gave me a whole 'nother book to do, just after I finished the last one."

"My baby is such a hard-worker! Mama is so proud of you," Nana complemented, pressing butterfly kisses to his nose.

Tsuna scrunched up his face adorably, rubbing away at the kisses.

"Mama, do you know any Italian? Reborn said you learned some in college."

Nana frowned.

"I took an Italian poetry class. At the end, we took a class trip to Italy. That's when I first met your father. Unfortunately, I don't remember much Italian. Just a few words and phrases."

"Like what?"

"Like, Tsu-kun, tu sei la luce dei mio mondo."

Tsuna blushed.

"Did Papa speak Italian to you?" he asked curiously.

Nana forced a laugh. "Mostly terms of endearment. He would call me bellisima, his dolcezza."

 _None of it was true,_ she didn't say. _Because in the end, he didn't stay._

Tsuna looked startled at her tone. "Sorry, Mama. I—" He bit his lip hesitantly.

Nana forced the bitterness away with a glib smile.

"Mama's okay, Tsu-kun. Let's get back to work, ne? If you're good, I'll paint your nails again."

Tsuna's eyes lit up, and he rapidly turned back to his workbook. A few seconds later, she noticed him peeking up at her through a frame of long, dark eyelashes. Slivers of orange.

When she caught him, he quickly turned back to his books, but a few seconds later, Nana caught him staring again.

Tsuna had always been uncanny in his ability to discern her truths and her lies.

.

* * *

.

In the afternoon, Takeshi stopped by for a visit.

"Kyo didn't come with you?" Tsuna asked, peering around the baseball-loving schoolchild to look for his raven-tressed friend.

Takeshi shrugged. "Sorry, Tsuna. It's only me today."

Tsuna gasped and immediately moved to reassure his new friend that of course he was perfectly fine with that and he was so happy that Takeshi had dropped by, Kyo in tow or not.

"Maa, maa, Tsuna. It's okay. I know what you meant."

Tsuna immediately dragged Takeshi upstairs to play.

"Do you know why Kyo didn't come?" he asked after some time.

"He said he had something to do," Takeshi explained with a shrug.

"Oh…" Tsuna replied. _He must be patrolling_.

Takeshi reached for Tsuna's wrist. Where their skin made contact, blue and orange fire flowers whizzed into existence, bursting into soft showers of spark.

"Do you see that too?" he asked curiously.

Tsuna nodded.

"What do you think it means?"

Tsuna paled.

"I… I don't know."

"It's okay, Tsuna. I was just wondering if they were real or not."

"I've… I've drawn them if you want to see?" Tsuna offered shyly.

Takeshi nodded eagerly.

Tsuna brought out the box from under his bed and lifted the lid up, reaching for the drawings.

"They're… they're probably not very good."

"No, Tsuna! These are—"

Takeshi paused, looking closer at the drawing. Blue and orange smeared together, creating ugly brown-green splotches in places. The colors had blurred together in a crude approximation of the brilliant light bursts that had just lit the air seconds ago.

"Ummm… they are— ummm… Well, it's hard to say."

Tsuna laughed. "It's okay, Takeshi. I know they're not very good. Luckily, I don't want to be an artist when I grow up."

Takeshi nodded in relief. "Yeah. No offense, Tsuna, but these suc— need more work. But my dad always says that in the long run, those with perspir— perser— perspiration win in the end."

Tsuna nodded, wide-eyed. "How do you get perspiration?" he asked.

"You don't give up and you keep working hard!" Takeshi answered solemnly.

"Okay. I'm gonna perspire everyday from now on!"

Takeshi laughed. "I will too. Since we're brothers-in-arm after all!"

.

* * *

.

The phone was ringing. Nana reached for it, not bothering to check the Caller ID.

"Nana?"

Every piece of her froze at the sound of that voice. She trembled with rage and fear and nervousness.

"Iemitsu." Had her voice been cold enough to convey her fury?

"How have you been? Has everything been alright? It's so good to hear your voice, _darling_."

Her rage was fierce and pointed, whittled sharp. "I'm sorry to say that it's not so good to hear yours. Our son almost died. Where are you?"

"Nana?"

"Answer me."

His voice sounded like he was begging. "Nana... please—"

"I'm hanging up."

"Wait." There was some quality in his voice that couldn't be described. Nana paused.

" _Amore_ , you sound _tense_. You should relax."

The last coherent emotion Nana felt was pure panic and desperation. Then, unwittingly, unwillingly, everything was slipping away.

Why had she spoken like that? Of course she had missed the sound of her husband's voice. It had been agony without it. It must have been all the stress.

"Sorry, Anata. I— I don't know what got into me."

Iemitsu's voice was soft, tender. He was _always_ so patient with her— _so kind_.

"It's okay, darling. It's been a while since I last visited, I know. I sent Reborn. Did everything turn out okay?"

"Yes. Everything was fine of course. It was just scary."

"I'm sorry you were scared. I'm glad everything turned out okay. You know why I can't be there. _You're so understanding, love_."

Nana basked in the complement— like basking in the sun. Like feeling the warmth of praise after having been in the cold too long. It embraced all corners of her. She felt utterly tranquil and boneless.

"I— I try my best."

"Your best is always enough. _I love you, Nana_."

Without hesitation. "I love you too."

"I need to get back to work now. But, I'm glad we had the opportunity to speak."

"I- I'm glad too. I wish you'd call more often."

" _You know I can't, amore_." Iemitsu's voice had the vaguest underpinnings of annoyance. Nana rushed to soothe them.

Oh, why had she said that?!

"It's fine, Anata. Of course. I didn't mean to—"

"Shhh. It's okay, love. I know what you meant. I miss you too. _Don't forget me_ , okay?"

"Okay."

The dial tone sounded.

Nana was frozen.

The phone slipped from her grasp.

She ran for the bathroom.

She hurled over and over again. Tried to purge the insidious roots of the poison flower that had already embedded itself in her chest.

She had never been able to say a word against Iemitsu no matter what he did. Maybe it wasn't an issue of her timid nature. Maybe it was something more.

Clutching at the white bowl, Nana sobbed.

She felt violated. Dirty. Used.

She sat there for what felt like hours. It was probably only minutes.

A knock at the door.

"Nana." Reborn stood by the bathroom door, watching her sadly. She had forgotten to lock the world out. "Let's talk in the kitchen when you're ready."

.

* * *

.

There were 13 clocks in Tsuna's house, and each of them were just one tick off, so time didn't tock at the Sawadas, but instead hummed, like a swarm of bees.

It was driving him crazy. He rolled around in his bed, burying his head under his pillow.

But that was no good, because now he could hear the sound of the wood of his house vibrating. Creaking, like someone was walking across it and bending the wood with their footsteps.

It was too much. Too loud.

Mama was crying again. Reborn was with her, which meant it was an adult thing, which meant Tsuna wouldn't be welcomed no matter how much the sound pained him.

He finally sat up, reaching for his book on planes.

He had just reached the end of the second chapter when there was a sudden knock at the window. Jumping up off his bed, Tsuna bounded towards it, his intuition telling him it was okay to open it.

It was Kyo. He entered with the smell of iron.

Blood.

"Kyo?!" Tsuna whispered in a panic.

Hibari was wearing a strange smile on his face. His face was bruised and cut.

As soon as Tsuna neared close enough, Kyo tugged him closer.

Purple and orange waves slammed into each other. Kyo received a much needed dose of relaxation and pain relief, while Tsuna felt charged with a sudden surge of power, tinged with the taste of iron in his mouth. His body had been aching vaguely over the course of the day and he finally understood why.

"What… what were you doing out so late?" Tsuna asked.

Kyo smiled, baring his teeth. There was a splattering of blood on his lips. It didn't seem like his own.

He seemed almost feral tonight.

He did not answer.

Tsuna ran for the first aid kit in the bathroom. Luckily, Mama and Reborn were talking quietly in the kitchen. Mama wasn't crying anymore.

He brought it back and began the careful process of tending to all of Kyo's wounds.

He treated each of them with equal care and tenderness. Kyo sat quietly under his ministrations as Tsuna fretted over each of his injuries.

"Do you want me to run a bath for you?" Tsuna asked after he was finished, mimicking what Nana said when he returned home after a cold, tiring day.

Kyo raised an amused eyebrow which Tsuna took to mean 'no.' He settled for bringing over the extra pair of pajamas Kyo kept at their house.

"Do you want something to eat? Anything else?"

Kyo smiled faintly. "Sleep, baby carnivore."

They both crawled into Tsuna's bed, tucked close to one another. Their flames rushed into each other over and over again until the waves calmed and they again reflected one sea.

"Where were you?" Tsuna asked drowsily.

"Becoming strong."

"You're already strong."

"Stronger."

"How?"

"Practice."

Tsuna didn't say anything.

"Small animal?"

The unspoken question fizzed between them.

Tsuna turned so he was fully facing his friend. He gave Kyo a hug with one hand, closing his eyes trustingly.

"Don't go where I can't follow, Kyo. But if you have to, come back to me afterwards. I… I can't lose you. As long as you come back to me, everything's okay."

.

* * *

.

"It's his flames," Reborn began.

Nana sat, mute and numb.

"Your flames haven't awakened yet, so you are particularly vulnerable to it. It's an ability some skies possess. The ability to force harmony and prevent dissent."

 _I've wished I could peel my skin off for years_ , she does not say. _So I wouldn't have to remember the weak thing I was when he was here_.

"Do I love him?"

"You must, to a certain extent. It's too effective to be fueled solely by flames."

Nana held back a sob.

"Why do you want him to come back?" Reborn asked her.

That was the question, wasn't it? Why did her heart still ache for him?

Uncertainty swelled in her brain. "For a long time, I've felt… incomplete. Like I can't be happy with him. And Tsuna needs a dad. There are things I can't teach him."

"You might be dependent on his flames, Nana. It could be why you love and hate him so much."

Nana shuddered. The foundations of her world were crumbling and she was disconnectedly watching them burn.

Their relationship was a void. She couldn't remember much about their married life right before he left. A blur of warmth and affection.

" _Yes, I have a happy marriage."_

Only after Tsuna was born had events become clear and distinct in her mind following a coherent timeline.

Did she love him? How could she not? How could she? Had she ever loved him? The overtures of panic started ringing through her.

It couldn't have all been fabrication.

Reborn was right.

If it was…

No. It couldn't have been.

She would have nothing.

Wait. That wasn't quite true.

She would still have Tsuna.

"When did it start, Nana?"

And that was the question, wasn't it?

Nana focused on her breathing, trying to remember anything.

The memory came, glazed over, but clearing as she rubbed her sweaty fingers over it again and again.

"We were married for a year. I was… young. I didn't know what was going on. I had married him against the wish of my family, so I was cut off. They refused to have anything to do with him. It was the night I was going to tell him about Tsuna. He told me something, and… it… it scared me. I packed my bags. I had to leave. I had to take Tsuna away. He tried to reason with me, but I wasn't listening. I stepped out the door with the car keys… and then… nothing. I… I stayed. I couldn't imagine leaving. I thought it was my choice."

"What did he tell you, Nana?"

"I… I can't remember. It's gone. I just remember I felt… betrayed." Nana shuddered. "When I woke up, he was sitting in a chair by my bed. He already knew about Tsuna. He said that's why he couldn't let me go. I can't remember anything after that, except… I was… I thought I was happy. And then he left and you came."

Reborn was frowning.

"You told me if I fell down this rabbit hole, I couldn't fall back up. Well, it already happened. I just can't remember the fall or anything from the way down."

"I can help you."

Nana thinks of the March Hare who had led her down and left her, condemned by his stupid pocket watch. But the Mad Hatter. What did the Mad Hatter do?

"How?"

"If we strengthen your flames, you can learn to resist."

"Why would you help me? Your Iemitsu's colleague."

"I am your son's godfather and your own friend first."

"Prove it," Nana asked. She did not plead. Did not show weakness. Did not beg for an ally in Wonderland— _and why was it called Wonderland? It was so dark and cold and terrible here_. "Prove it."

.

* * *

.

Kyoya slipped out before dawn.

"Where are you going?" Tsuna asked blearily, reaching for his cloud.

Kyoya ruffled his hair tenderly.

Violet patterns traced across his skin. Warmness and content seeped into him from where Kyoya's hands were.

Kyoya was laced in orange. He finally looked satisfied.

"If you miss school again, baby carnivore, I will bite you to death."

He opened the window latch and left.

After an hour, Tsuna had to wake up for real.

He skidded downstairs, stumbling over the last stair step, and made it to the dining room where Mama and Reborn were eating breakfast.

"Mama, I'm late!"

"Sit down for breakfast, Tsu-kun."

"But… the time."

"Dame-Tsuna, don't let Mama's food go to waste."

Tsuna hesitantly took his place at the table, chowing down his food. After he finished, he thanked her for the meal and brought his dishes to the sink so they could be loaded into the dishwasher later.

He grabbed his school bag while Nana tried to brush an errant piece of rice off his cheek.

"Thank you, Mama," Tsuna said, standing on his tiptoes as she leaned down so he could give her a kiss. "I'm meeting Kyoko and Hana after school today. It's the first Tuesday of the month."

Mama froze. She and Reborn were doing this weird eye thing where they were looking at each other but not saying anything.

"Reborn's going to walk you to school today, darling," she said simply.

Tsuna nodded, already making his way to the door.

His godfather was wearing his dark trench coat. His hat was already firmly on his head.

"Oh, and Tsuna," Nana called. "Give this to Kyo-kun for me."

Surprised, Tsuna accepted what his mother pressed into his hand. It was a key looped on a string.

"That way he doesn't have to climb up the side of the house. It's dangerous."

Tsuna laughed.

.

* * *

.

Tsuna skipped happily. His hand was securely tucked into Reborn's, and it didn't seem like his Zio was letting go any time soon. Despite his godfather's highly unusual behavior, he was over the moon to see Kyoko and Hana today. The last time they met was almost two weeks ago.

It would feel like everything was normal again.

"Dame-Tsuna, I found a new book on Amelia Earhart."

Tsuna skidded to halt, eyes widening in excitement. Three weeks ago, his class had biography day. All the kids had to present a biography of someone important and dress up like that person. Takeshi had done Ichiro Suzuki and came to school in his baseball uniform. Tsuna had wanted to do a pilot, and Tsubaki-sensei had suggested Amelia Earhart to him.

She was the most amazing person he had ever heard of. Mama had helped him make the perfect costume too.

"Really?! What's it called? Do you have it right now?"

"No. It's at the library, and you're reading it with me today."

"When?"

"After school, I'm picking you up."

Tsuna was conflicted. "Um, Reborn. Today is kind of a special day. Every first Tuesday of the month, Kyoko, Hana, and I always go to the bakery together. It's our tradition. I'm sorry, but I can't—"

"Dame-Tsuna, I don't know how long I'm staying. Your friends will always be here." Reborn frowned.

Tsuna looked down at his feet.

"It's our promise, Reborn. So we stay friends forever."

Reborn lifted an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yes. So, how about I come straight home afterwards and then we can read the book?"

Reborn sighed.

"Tsuna, Nana asked me to pick you up from school today."

"But I always walk."

"Yes, but Nana wanted me to pick you up today."

"Everything is okay now, but Mama and you are still acting weird. I don't like it. It's hard for things to be normal again if you guys keep worrying. It won't happen again. I'll be more careful. I promise. So can I—?"

"Tsuna, I am picking you up from school today and that's final. I don't really care about your feelings on the matter."

Tsuna looked up at him, shocked.

 _It's for his own good_ , Reborn thought grimly, taking his godson's hand more firmly into his own. Tsuna was upset. He didn't say another word for the rest of the walk.

He'd get over it.

.

* * *

 _._

 _It was only this once_ , Tsuna promised himself. He would just go and tell Kyoko and Hana that he couldn't come today, then sneak back into school so Reborn wouldn't suspect anything.

"Small animal. Where are you going?"

Tsuna squealed in surprise, clapping his hands over his mouth.

"Kyo! You scared me."

His cloud raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

"It's the first Tuesday of the month. I… I'm going to meet Kyoko and Hana."

The house key Mama had given him was still strung around Kyoya's neck. Tsuna had a feeling Kyo would never take it off.

"Hn."

Hibari began following him.

"Umm, Kyo. You don't have to come with me."

Kyoya replied through their bond and Tsuna felt an instant spark of understanding.

"You don't have to patrol the area around the bakery. It's safe there."

Hibari didn't reply and instead kept following him.

Tsuna sighed, but acquiesced.

Everyone was smothering him. He felt like a firefly, cupped in too many hands at once.

When he finally got to the bakery, Kyoya dissolved away from his side. Tsuna could feel him lurking around the area though, his presence a bright spot in the back of his mind.

Kyoko was crying. Hana was tucked beside her, trying in vain to comfort the golden-haired child.

Tsuna rushed inside, his empathy roaring on all fronts.

"Kyoko! What's wrong?"

Kyoko reached for Tsuna.

"It's about time you showed up," Hana scoffed, scooting in so there was more room in their side of the booth.

"Kyoko?" Tsuna asked, softer.

"Onii-san is in the hospital," she sobbed. "He's hurt really badly. He didn't fight back… because of the promise."

In an instant, Tsuna comprehended.

A few months ago, some upperclassmen had been teasing Kyoko. Ryohei, as protective as he was, hadn't stood for it. He had beaten the kids up, but had been severely injured in the course of the fight. Afterwards, Kyoko had made him promise not to fight anymore and he had agreed. He had literally just healed from the incident. That made the timing of this even worse.

Tsuna felt an unfamiliar rush of heat and anger. It felt like the emotion Hibari had given him the other day when he had snuck in.

Iron and fury.

"Who hurt him?"

"They don't know. It was like he was clawed by an animal! It was… I—" Kyoko started wailing again and Hana shot Tsuna another dirty look.

He bit down his irrational rage and reached out, wrapping both girls in a hug. He tried to exude comfort and love. Slowly, Kyoko's sobs slid to a halt.

"Can we visit yet?" he asked gently.

"Yes… We were waiting for you… I didn't want to go alone… I needed both of you," Kyoko explained rubbing away at her sticky, red cheeks.

Tsuna helped Hana bring Kyoko to her feet.

Hana punched him affectionately on the shoulder in thanks.

"You're good to come with us?"

Tsuna nodded, already forgetting his initial plan.

Hibari materialized as soon as they stepped out.

"Kyoko's brother is in the hospital," Tsuna explained.

Hibari _hnned_ and wordlessly led the way, tonfas out and dangling from his arms like ribbons of silver.

"There have been other reports of similar incidents in the area," Hana confessed, her words puffing out in the cold.

Kyoko sniffled.

Tsuna felt a chill race down his spine.

He looked out into his quiet town. An evening fog was settling down, obscuring familiar shapes into blurs. There was no danger at the moment, so Tsuna didn't let his nerves rile him up. He focused on radiating calm and comfort.

They were being watched.

.

* * *

.

"Iemitsu."

A stately voice beckoned from the edge of the shadowed office.

"I think it's time you introduced me to your family."

The father swallowed, feeling the press of heavy, ancient flames in the air.

"Why?"

"Your son has awakened to his flames. It's time you fulfill your promise to me."

"Tsuna is still young. Surely, he—"

"His youth makes this visit all the more necessary."

Iemitsu blinked uncertainly.

"Many years ago, I offered you a home and a family. I only had one condition for giving you everything. Do not father a child. And even still, when you broke that rule, I was forgiving. This is the price for your disobedience. Are you no longer willing to pay it?"

"No! Of course I am willing."

Iemitsu swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing in an obvious display of fear. "I will book the tickets."

"We'll go when summer starts," Nono offered. "That way, young Tsunayoshi can have time to recover afterwards."

Iemitsu nodded, and Nono reached around to pat his head and thread his weathered fingers through his hair.

"Thank you."

Nono smiled. It was soft, paternal. A twinkling on the corners of his lips.

"I knew I could trust you, Mitsu."

* * *

.

 **This could have probably used more editing, but I was too excited to update. I'm going to try to aim for the second week of every month. I've been unknowingly sticking to that, so I was aiming to get this chapter out by the weekend. I hope you liked it. I know I threw a lot of balls into motion. (Five guesses as to who's going to be next to join Tsuna's family.)**

 **What Nana tells Tsuna in Italian is: Tsuna, you are the light of my world.**

 **We're nearing the end of the first arc. Then we can get to more pilot stuff, and maybe my summary will finally have some modicum of accuracy.**

 **Do you guys get update messages every time I edit? I worry about that.**

 **If you have any questions about the mess of events that happened, I am always willing to answer them.**

 **Please please let me know what you think in the little box below. Even a smiley face makes my day. (-:**

 **Thank you to everyone who followed, favorited, and reviewed!**

 **Special thanks to Yolea Irk, KV, and LordGhostStriker.**

 **I do not own KHR. That honor belongs to the lovely Akiro Amano.**

 **Lots of love,**

 **\- Mmrose9**

 **EDIT 2/10/2018: Mostly minor things**


	7. The Light Between the Lost and the Found

.

 _ **The Light Between Worlds**_

 _Chapter VII: The Light Between the Lost and the Found_

 **"And it's that reaching, that gesture, that reflex we have to pull what's warm**

 **\- whether it's something or someone -**

 **toward us, that feeling we get when we do that,**

 **that feeling of being safe in the world and ready for sleep,**

 **that's happiness."**

 **—** **Paul Schmidtberger** , _**Design Flaws of the Human Condition**_

.

* * *

.

They couldn't stop to ask the nurse where Ryohei's room was located. It was too risky. They could easily be turned away and told to come back later with a grown up. Tsuna found the place easy enough though, footsteps guided by his intuition down the gold paths that sprung before him.

He stopped for a moment, midway. There was another path stretching out to his left that deviated from the way to Ryohei's room. The path was softly lit, undulating gently in the air currents, like a lunar wave dancing on a newly created ocean.

His feet tugged him towards it, but his mind pulled him back. He had a duty to Hana and Kyoko.

Saving the path in his mind, Tsuna led his friends to Ryohei's room.

Hibari had already vanished outside the hospital, most likely trying to find someone or something to beat up.

They reached Ryohei's room quickly. The soft, syncopated beeps of the various machines echoed across the hall, pulsing through the air.

The three of them slipped in.

Ryohei was asleep. His skin was dappled in bruises, staining his skin clashing shades of blue, green, and purple. Kyoko's face crumpled. It was like watching a birthday candle melt into wax before the candle was blown. Or like watching a star wink out.

"We'll wait awhile for the stupid monkey to wake up," Hana declared, turning up her nose at the vase of wilting rainbow-dyed roses in the corner.

Tsuna moved towards them, reaching to rub one of the velvety petals between his fingers.

"Okay," Kyoko agreed.

Tsuna's eyes were drawn to the rose in the center. It was a soft lavender purple and somehow still fresh. Tsuna pulled it out of the vase to get a closer look.

Hoping Kyoko wouldn't notice, he slowly slid the rose into his pocket.

Hana gave him a raised eyebrow and an unimpressed look.

 _Really, Tsuna?_ she said with her eyes. _Stealing flowers at a hospital?_

Tsuna gave her his most innocent, _I-don't-know-what-you-mean_ look.

Hana shot him her _I-knew-you-were-a-monkey-all-along_ stare, but ultimately said nothing.

His mind pulled him to the unresolved path. Where did it lead to? Why was he being drawn there?

If Ryohei was sleeping at the moment, then…

Abruptly, Tsuna turned to Kyoko, who was settling herself into the chair by Ryohei's bedside. Hana was dragging the other chair over.

"Kyoko! I'm going to go look for snacks!"

She looked confused for a second. "Um… sure, Tsuna-kun. That's fine. Go for it?"

"Thanks! Bye!"

Tsuna practically fled from the room, hoping the path was still there.

" _Why does he have a rose in his pocket_?" he heard Kyoko ask behind him, but he was already rushing back down the hall, trying to retrace his steps.

There! It was a little fainter now, but definitely discernible. Tsuna surged along the path eagerly. He was moving so fast, he was surprised nobody stopped him. The path ended at a partially open steel door and a wide bay window that looked into the room inside.

A girl was lying on the table, so still, it was as if she had been turned to stone.

She was surrounded in wires, like a butterfly caught in a colorless web of intravenous cords and cables.

Drawn by impulse, Tsuna entered the room, approaching the unconscious girl. His flames surged. He tried to contain them, but they were already spreading out from him, stretching out to her.

They anchored…

They anchored and Tsuna collapsed.

 _Impact. A car digging into bone muscle blood tissue heart_

 _The cat? Was the cat alright?_

 _The car—_

 _Bone tissue muscle blood_

 _Tissue muscle blood bone_

 _Muscle blood bone tissue_

 _Heart heart heart_

 _Shattered_

 _glass upon impact_

The girl didn't have any insides.

Tsuna dry-heaved on the bedside floor, pressing his forehead against his knees.

He couldn't breathe, his lungs were disintegrating. Where was his heart again? His insides were empty—

He was spilling spilling spilling spilling

 _No._

 _Not me. Not me. Not me. Not me. Not me._

 _I'm okay_ , Tsuna reminded himself. He pressed his hand against his chest to feel the pulsating of his lungs and heart in tandem and assure himself that he was still put together.

Clasping the purple rose tighter in his hand, Tsuna stood up, accidentally brushing against the unconscious girl's hand.

One point of contact.

His mind crashed to a halt and sank, as if submerged in a lake. The stars hung tenderly in front of him.

He could feel the girl's shattered body, trying to sustain itself— to keep from scattering. Her capillaries lit up lilac—

But not only lilac. There was a darker shade of color, spilling through her blood from the pumping arteries and veins of her heart.

It was keeping her alive, but Tsuna could feel the strain— the gulf.

His flames tipped into the fractured space, like melted molten liquid rushing to fill the gaps of the cracked earth.

His flames poured out out out out

It was endless. Tsuna was melding— dissolving into his flames, spilling spilling spil—

No. He forced his thoughts into the concrete. He pressed his thumb against the rose stem, feeling assured by the sharp stab of pain his body felt at the piercing.

Mama had shown him an art form called kintsugi once.

It depended on the shattering.

The artist would take the broken pieces of priceless clay pottery and bridge the cracks with gold to create something of beauty once again.

His flames were like the gold stretching between the girl's priceless shards.

The shard of her conscious stabbed into his gold.

 _Who are you?_

Her voice echoed in his ears. She sounded in awe.

He responded back shyly.

 _My name is Tsuna_.

Feeling burned out, he dropped to the ground, his legs wobbling like jello. The rose's stem and his palm had become slippery with blood.

 _What's your name_?

He left the rose at her side, letting his injured hand drop on to the ground next to him.

His orange rushed through her veins, interlaced and working in tandem with the dark purple-blue to keep her alive. Seeds of light and color— entwined trees of life— pillars of health.

Compassion and freedom.

Heart and lungs.

Orange and indigo.

 _Nagi_.

The name resonated in his head, and Tsuna clutched on to it so he wouldn't forget it.

Nagi.

Finally, he closed his eyes, slipping into darkness.

 _Thank you, Tsuna_.

.

* * *

.

It was the nurse that found him. She saw him collapsed, bleeding on the floor, and screamed.

Other nurses had quickly followed and dragged him out of Nagi's intensive care unit. They had found the little lion shaped plate Mama had given him with his name and phone number in case he got lost.

But it was unneeded. Reborn was already there.

He didn't remember it happening. When he woke up, he was slung across his godfather's back. They were going home.

Oh.

He had completely forgotten about Reborn after Kyoko had told him about Ryohei. Kyoko and Hana and Kyoya were probably worried sick about him.

He was such a terrible friend.

Reborn readjusted his grip as Tsuna clung tighter. His godfather threw him a quick glance. He had probably known Tsuna was awake from his breathing patterns or something equally ridiculous.

"The Sasagawas came and took Kyoko and Hana home. They had permission to visit so neither of them are in trouble," Reborn said dispassionately. His voice was cold and swift.

Tsuna froze.

He knew in an instant. He had hurt him. His godfather. His Zio.

Guilt swelled up like a storm.

"Reborn, I'm—"

His godfather cut him off.

"Save it."

Tsuna bit his lip but remained silent.

Nothing further was said.

.

* * *

.

Reborn struggled to hide the depth of his fury from Tsuna. By Tsuna's sniffling and the carefully held back tears, Reborn knew he had probably failed.

Words couldn't describe his anger and frustration.

 _How am I supposed to keep you safe if you don't listen to me?_

He felt vulnerable in ways he had never allowed himself to feel before— like his soft underbelly was exposed— like his heart was walking around without a rib cage. Just bleeding bleeding bleeding

He felt betrayed.

Tsuna was still a child. It wasn't reasonable to expect him to always do the most responsible thing.

Which is why Reborn needed something to hold over his trust. He didn't doubt that Tsuna would always do the right thing for the people around him. He saw them, loved them, and elevated them to the best versions of themselves. But, the right thing for others wasn't always the right thing for him. He needed someone to be selfish for him, and by god was Reborn selfish.

Tsuna would disobey him for his own convictions. For his own sense of right and wrong.

Reborn had never felt more proud… or terrified.

When he had showed up to pick up Tsuna, he could immediately tell his godson wasn't there. It was easy enough to follow the scent of the flame. Vanilla, orange, and windswept autumn.

He would have arrived earlier, but the last interview for the security detail he was hiring took longer than expected when the candidate turned out to be an assassin. He would have to vet the ones he'd already chosen further now. Maybe he'd give them a little surprise to see how they acted under duress.

Regardless, he had been just a few minutes late at being early, and Tsuna had already vanished.

When he had finally tracked down his wayward godson, Tsuna was unconscious in a hospital with a bleeding appendage and two new elemental bonds.

Reborn sometimes wondered why he let Tsuna leave the house.

Hopefully, he'd mature with age.

Nana was still scolding the brat.

Overall, his flame expenditure was off the charts. While Tsuna had massive pools, there was only so far he could safely go before he started burning out.

And Reborn would never let him burn.

He'd have to do something.

.

* * *

.

Tsuna had never been in so much trouble before. Ever.

He felt so guilty, he couldn't even try to argue against his punishment. He wasn't allowed to go outside anymore, except for school. Reborn had called it house arrest. Mama had called it being grounded.

Grounded made Tsuna think of planes. Grounded planes weren't allowed to fly because there was something wrong with them. His book had said so.

Tsuna was a grounded airplane right now.

He had hurt both Mama and Reborn. He had been an awful friend to Kyoya, Kyoko, and Hana.

And the worst part of it all was that he didn't even feel a smidgen of remorse. He would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

Yes. There was something wrong with him.

Nana had made dinner, but Tsuna felt incapable of eating anything. He still felt hollow on the inside, like he was missing bits and pieces. It made him feel even worse because not eating his mother's food always made her feel bad.

He was just one big mistake today.

After dinner, Reborn called him to the living room.

"Drink this."

Reborn held out a cup filled with a gloopy green sludge.

Tsuna wrinkled his nose.

"No thank you," he said very politely.

"Drink it," Reborn ordered.

Wary of digging himself even further into punishment, Tsuna obediently swallowed the juice down at once. Grimacing, he stood up and put the cup into the sink. Ew, ew, ew. It tasted horrible.

He sat back down opposite his godfather.

Reborn stared at him pensively for a few moments. Tsuna felt something brush against his flames.

"What did you do?" Reborn asked.

Tsuna was confused.

"I was bad?"

"No. Other than that. When I came to pick you up, you were unconscious. Your hand is still wrapped up. Your flames have new connections."

Tsuna felt embarrassed.

"Oh… there was this girl at the hospital. Nagi."

Reborn's eyes narrowed. He looked a mix between frustrated and concerned.

"Nagi?"

Tsuna nodded, wondering why Reborn was so concerned.

"Was she a patient?"

Tsuna nodded again.

Reborn sighed agitatedly.

"It's about time you learned some control," he said. "Your flames are connecting at an alarming rate. You shouldn't be bonding with elements at such a young age."

"What?"

Tsuna paused. He knew his godfather knew about his flames. He knew Mama also knew. They had just never talked about it openly before.

"Your flames. It's time I teach you how to control them."

"You… you have flames too, Reborn?" Tsuna asked eagerly.

Reborn nodded, summoning a yellow tongue of fire above his outstretched palm.

"Flames are manifestations of your dying will."

Tsuna paused, scrunching his eyebrows together in utter confusion.

Reborn sighed. It was easy to forget how young Tsuna was sometimes.

"Flames appear when you believe they will. They're like little pieces of your soul that you can use for many different things."

Tsuna nodded vigorously, obviously relieved at the simpler explanation.

"When you meet someone your soul considers a soulmate, both of your souls get tied together into a kind of bond we call a flame bond."

Reborn looked to see how Tsuna was taking it. His little godson was starry-eyed. He was a lover of fairy tales, and Reborn could tell this explanation was right up his alley.

"There are different types of souls. Some have yellow sun souls, like me. Some have purple cloud souls, like your Hibari. There are other kinds too, but your soul is a sky soul. That means you can form the most connections with other souls."

"Really?! So when you call Kyo my cloud, you mean that—?"

"Yes. I mean that you formed a bond with Hibari."

"And I can form the most connections?"

"Yes. But you shouldn't."

Tsuna looked up, bewildered. "Why not?"

"You only have so much of your soul to give. If you give it all away, you won't have anything left for yourself."

Tsuna's face looked like a question mark.

"You gave a piece of your soul to Kyoya, right? In return, he gave a piece of his soul to you. But, you both are still young. Imagine if Kyoya moved to another town. He would take your soul with him, and it would split you apart."

Tsuna gaped, wide-eyed in horror.

"And Kyoya?"

"Would certainly be split as well."

Tsuna bit his lip, hugging his knees to his chest. He looked panicked. Reborn didn't want to scare him too badly, but Tsuna had to know the severity of his actions.

"So today, did I bond with Nagi? Is that why you were worried?"

Reborn nodded. "If your friend Nagi is in a serious condition, she could die. That's why you shouldn't bond yet."

Tsuna frowned. "Don't worry. Nagi won't. She's not going to just disappear like that. She's still got lots left to live."

Reborn frowned. "Just because she's young doesn't mean she can't die."

"No… but Nagi won't. I know she won't."

Reborn internally rolled his eyes. Damn Vongola intuition.

"As your godfather, it's my responsibility to make sure you can contain your flames. Don't think I'm going to go easy on you just because you're my godson. You'll be the best by the time I'm done with you."

Tsuna nodded determinedly, eyes flashing in excitement. "I'll perspire until I can do it like you want me to."

"Perspire?"

"Takeshi taught me that word. It means to work really hard without giving up."

Reborn's lips twitched in amusement. "Oh, yes. You'll certainly be doing a lot of that."

.

* * *

 _._

 _Tsuna was walking on the sky. A horizonless scape of murmured dreams and jumbled hopes. He had been here before. He didn't know when, but he had._

 _His footsteps rippled through the sky like pebbles thrown into a glassy lake._

 _Contrails streaked across his feet like silvery threads leading him forward._

 _He followed them._

 _It was so empty and silent. Like even the smallest whisper would resonate in this world forever._

 _The sky seemed languid and seraphic. Like a piece of amber. Frozen in time._

 _Did that make him a beetle?_

 _Tsuna shivered._

 _He was alone._

 _The sun began to set, casting everything in a pale, orange light._

 _Tsuna felt the heat of the sunset burn through his own veins. Bleed into his eyes._

 _He blinked, and a swing set appeared in front of him. There were 2 swings hanging from the slim silver frame, rocking in the absence of wind._

 _Tsuna sat in the one of the left, anchoring himself to the ground with his feet. He turned and Nagi was sitting beside him. A cat was on her lap, and she was stroking it._

" _Nagi?"_

" _H-hi, Tsuna-kun."_

" _Where are we?"_

 _Nagi turned to face him more squarely. She lifted her eyebrows as if to say, shouldn't_ you _know._

" _We're in your mind. It's n-nice to f-finally meet you."_

 _Tsuna smiled, bumping her shoulder with his._

" _Welcome then," Tsuna laughed. "It's nice to meet you too."_

 _Nagi blushed, clutching the cat closer._

" _Is that the one you saved?" Tsuna asked._

" _No," Nagi answered. "This one's name is Roku."_

 _The cat leaped from Nagi's hands on to Tsuna's thighs, placing its paws on his chest._

 _Tsuna was entranced. The cats eyes were two different colors: blood red and sapphire blue. They reminded Tsuna of 3-D glasses. The old kind he'd stockpile in his second drawer and slip on to remind himself that there were other ways to see the world._

 _They held eye contact for several seconds, no movement, no sound._

 _Until finally, voice entrenched in awe, Tsuna spoke in a whisper._

" _You have the prettiest eyes I've ever seen, Roku. You're so beautiful."_

 _The cat seemed to almost freeze for a moment._

 _Then, it leapt off Tsuna and bounded towards the horizon, rippling the sky as it scattered._

" _How'd you meet him?" Tsuna asked, still breathless._

" _He saved me. Like you."_

 _Tsuna blushed. "Oh, I didn't really…"_

" _You did."_

 _Tsuna set it aside. He didn't know animals could have flames. Something to ask Reborn about later._

" _Are you feeling any better?"_

" _Lots," Nagi answered, popping the syllable. "I feel safer now. Before, I felt like I was disappearing."_

 _Tsuna reached for Nagi's hand._

 _She wasn't disappearing. She was right in front of him._

 _When they brushed, a charge surged from Tsuna to her and from her to Tsuna in a complete circuit._

 _Reborn called it trading flames. Tsuna didn't know what it was supposed to do, but it always made him feel better when he did it with Kyo or Takeshi. Hopefully, it would make Nagi feel better too._

" _You're giving me more of your flames? Will you be okay after today?"_

" _I'm fine now. Reborn says that I recharge really fast 'cuz I'm a kid. He also says that the more you use it, the easier it becomes to get better afterwards. Besides, you're giving me some of your flames too."_

 _Nagi smiled. It was a beautiful thing. Like the slight unfurling of a crescent moon as it sighed beside the stars. Tsuna couldn't help but smile back._

" _Are you still injured here?"_

 _Nagi shook her head._

" _I feel like normal. This isn't the real me after all."_

 _That was kind of weird if Tsuna thought about it too long._

" _Will you remember when we wake up?"_

" _Of course."_

" _So what can we do here?"_

" _Whatever you'd like. It's_ your _mind after all."_

 _Tsuna noticed with pleasure that Nagi wasn't stuttering around him anymore. He kicked off and rocked a little back and forth while he thought._

 _Finally…_

" _I bet I can swing higher than you," Tsuna dared, an impish smile dancing over his face._

 _Nagi smiled mischievously, and Tsuna knew she was snared._

 _The cat, Roku, had returned sometime without their notice. He watched them silently from the side, his heterochromatic eyes bright and covetous in the infinite skyscape._

 _._

* * *

.

Being grounded was torturous. He couldn't go patrolling with Kyoya. He couldn't watch Takeshi's practices or games. It was like being cut off from his other limbs.

The lack of contact made Kyo irritable. He spent more time attacking Tsuna with his tonfu(?) than normal ("Tonfa, baby carnivore"). If he wasn't attacking Tsuna, then he was napping on him. Tsuna would be more frustrated if he didn't nod off with Kyoya most of the time.

After the incident, Kyoya always set an alarm. They both woke up long before it rang, but it had become a ritual.

The number of bruises on his friend had gone down, but they were still present, scattered on Kyo's skin like purple cherry blossom petals.

Tsuna hated the fact that he wasn't by Kyo's side through it. He had asked once if, after his grounding ended, he could come with Kyoya wherever Kyoya went to come back with those bruises.

His friend had refused.

" _Carnivores can't bring baby carnivores everywhere, small animal."_

Tsuna ended up feeling drowsy most of the time. He spent most of his nights with Nagi and Roku. The cat had gradually become more comfortable with him over a period of weeks, often settling in his arms or lap now, draping itself around his neck with a purr, or closely threading through his legs. It had been a slow building of warmth, but now Tsuna would be lucky if he could untangle the cat from him.

He had gone and visited Ryohei afterwards with Reborn, apologizing to his friends for his odd behavior. Kyoko and Hana had quickly forgiven him with a promise that their next meet-up would be Tsuna's treat. Hopefully, his grounding would be over by then.

Ryohei, luckily enough, had finally recovered and would be back at school this week. The doctors were eager to get him out of the hospital. There had been a flurry of similar cases and beds were badly needed. The police thought it was likely the same people who had hurt Ryohei.

The boy in question couldn't remember what had happened before he had landed in the hospital. Kyoko's family was just grateful he was doing alright. They all were.

Takeshi still sat by him in all of his classes, but Tsuna had long realized that his friend far exceeded him in social skills. Tsuna had missed the first day and had never quite picked up from there. He didn't remember most of his classmates' names and ate lunch with Kyo every single day. Takeshi was very popular in their class. While Tsuna wasn't actively disliked by anyone (save a few), he didn't have any friends among their peers except Takeshi.

He didn't care as much as he probably should. It was nearing the end of the school year. He would just have to try harder next year when they were in the main elementary.

He could tell Takeshi wasn't very happy with the situation though.

"Tsuna, do you want to eat with me today?"

Tsuna looked back. He was already leaving the classroom to walk over to the roof.

"Thanks, Takeshi, but Kyo—"

"You eat with him every day. Surely he wouldn't mind if you didn't for one day?" Takeshi asked, eyes narrowed.

Takeshi had a point. Tsuna had never eaten lunch anywhere but the rooftop.

And besides, after Tsuna had been grounded, he and Takeshi had barely spent any time together. It would be nice to catch up.

"You're right," Tsuna conceded, moving back into the classroom so he could sit by his baseball-loving friend. Luckily, he had already given Kyoya his lunch in the morning when they had coincidentally run into each other on the way to school.

Kyoya would be fine on his own. Hopefully.

Takeshi smiled brightly and scooched over so Tsuna would have enough room.

Their desks were soon very crowded.

It seemed everyone ate lunch in the classroom.

"Oh, look who's here," Osamu-kun sneered.

"It's Tsuna!" Takeshi laughed in reply.

Tsuna could tell by the subtle baring of teeth that Takeshi didn't approve.

"Finally decided to eat with us today, Tsuna?" Osamu's friend asked.

Tsuna nodded.

"What? Cat got your tongue?"

Tsuna thought of Roku suddenly and smiled.

"No."

There was a sudden quieting. The girls at the next table whispered to each other eagerly.

Tsuna blushed at the silence.

"Umm… eto… Haruto-san, how is your left arm doing?"

He remembered Takeshi talking about his fellow baseball player the other day. Haruto had injured it when making a catch.

The boy snapped to attention eagerly.

"Oh! It's doing okay, Tsuna! I mean… it still hurts a little, but it'll be all better soon. Then I can go back to playing."

Tsuna smiled. _That's good_. He had been worried when Takeshi had described how he'd seen Haruto cry on the way to the ER.

"Do you need any help with notes? I mean… mine aren't very good, but you could borrow them if you needed to?"

Haruto looked at Tsuna strangely, almost dazed.

"Really? I mean… sure, thank you. It's been hard to take notes recently… but, how did you—? I mean—"

"You're left-handed, right?" Tsuna asked puzzled. "At least you only write with your left hand. And your left hand got hurt so…"

Haruto's eyes widened.

"You're left-handed?! Woah, man, I had no clue!"

Haruto laughed. "I am."

Tsuna reached into his bag to grab his notebook. He couldn't help but feel awkward. It was like he had done something wrong.

Takeshi's hand brushed his and Tsuna felt the succeeding exchange of flames. He relaxed.

He passed over the notebook.

"Woah, Tsuna! Your notes are so cute," Haruto exclaimed.

Tsuna blushed. Kyoko and Hana had given him a pack of highlighters for his last birthday and Tsuna had gone a little crazy with color-coordinating his school notes.

Haruto flashed the notebook up and the other boys laughed. Tsuna felt like dying of embarrassment. His face turned bright red.

Takeshi grabbed hold of his hand under the table and Tsuna felt his nerves calm again. _It's okay_ , his friend said over their bond. _I'll get it back for you_.

That was new. He and Takeshi had never communicated that way before.

"Maa, maa, Haruto. You'll probably spill something on it if you keep doing that. Here. You can borrow my notes and Tsuna can keep his safe."

"Oi, but Yamamoto. Your notes suck."

Takeshi laughed, but didn't move his hand back from where it was extended for the notebook. Haruto handed it back and hesitantly grabbed Takeshi's chicken-scratch notes.

Tsuna quickly stowed his notebook away into his backpack with a small sigh of relief.

The conversation flowed. Takeshi seemed to have a gift for knowing precisely when Tsuna started to feel uncomfortable and gently steered the conversation away.

Tsuna soon began feeling more confident. Speaking up and laughing more. He was still wiping the laugh tears from the corner of his eyes after a joke when Mochida swaggered over.

Mochida was one of the kids who didn't like Tsuna. He still called him dame-Tsuna, which was only okay for Reborn to do if anyone.

"Oi, dame-Tsuna, you're sitting in my seat."

"O-oh, sorry, Mochida-kun."

 _Don't stutter! You've faced Hibari Kyoya without stuttering and Mochida has nothing on Kyoya_ , Tsuna scolded himself.

(Tsuna didn't remind himself that Kyo was actually a huge softie who had adopted him as his little brother so they could raise baby birds together.)

Seeing weakness, Mochida preyed on it.

"Don't worry your pretty little head, dame-Tsuna. You can be my seat."

Mochida sat down heavily, crushing Tsuna's more petite body.

At the unexpected contact, Tsuna felt an awkward, heavy-handed brush towards his flames. They were blue colored, but not the sparkling light blue kind that Tsuna was familiar with. These were a darker bruise-blue, a less pure color. Mochida's flames immediately reached for his center of orange like they were trying to conquer it.

And Takeshi reacted.

Tsuna suddenly found himself more than a seat length away from Mochida on the other side of his friend, who was currently hissing at the intruder. Their hands, his and Takeshi's, were linked.

"Maa, maa. You should stop picking on Tsuna, Mochida. It would be best if you kept away. In fact, you should probably leave right now."

Tsuna's eyes widened. He had never heard Takeshi speak so aggressively before.

Mochida flinched. Standing up shakily, he stumbled away from the table. Curious about what Takeshi had done, Tsuna probed Mochida's flames with a shard of his own orange.

But, before they could make any headway, his flames were suddenly corralled away and surrounded by Takeshi's blue.

 _No_ , Takeshi told him through their bond.

Nodding slightly in acquiescence, Tsuna let his flames rest back into their ongoing circuit with Takeshi.

He didn't demand his hand back. He had a feeling Takeshi wasn't going to let go of it anytime soon.

The other boys were staring wide-eyed at Takeshi and Tsuna.

"Woah, Yamamoto. Don't you think that was too much, man?"

Takeshi smiled, guilelessly. "I just don't like bullies. And I didn't like the way he called Tsuna dame."

About half the boys immediately agreed with Takeshi, nodding vigorously and shooting wide smiles at Tsuna, who shyly smiled back.

Osamu and his friends weren't quite convinced.

"Mochida sits here every day. It wasn't right for Tsuna to take his seat."

Takeshi smiled sharply. "Next time, then, Tsuna can just sit on my lap."

Tsuna frowned. "That's not needed, Takeshi. I'll just stick to eating with Kyo from now on. I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to cause any drama."

"No, Tsuna. You're fine," Haruto said. "Mochida needs to learn to be nice to everyone. It's not your fault. In fact, you should sit here more often."

Tsuna smiled softly, eyes lighting up sunset from his ongoing flame transfer. "Thank you. Maybe I will."

Haruto blushed along with half the table.

Takeshi sighed in a way Tsuna didn't quite understand. He smiled when Tsuna worriedly looked his way, though, and simply shook his head.

Lunch soon ended and they returned to class.

.

* * *

.

Kyoya had bitten his head off after school for skipping lunch and Tsuna apologetically told Takeshi he couldn't eat with him unless he gave Kyoya advanced notice.

Takeshi, surprisingly, didn't seem too upset. "That's fine, Tsuna. I just wanted you to know you had another option, but I think it's more than okay if you want to keep eating with Hibari-senpai."

Tsuna frowned and apologized again.

"You could probably join us if you wanted to. I'm sure Kyo wouldn't mind," Tsuna finally offered.

Takeshi smiled. He looked… relieved? "Yeah. Maybe I'll do that."

.

* * *

.

Reborn made him meditate for an hour every day after school.

It was mind-numbingly boring. It was probably a secret punishment. Reborn just wanted to force him to sit still for a while.

"Why are we doing this?" he finally complained one day.

The running every morning around the neighborhood, he got. The jump roping until his feet were tired and he fell flat on his face, he got. The carrying the milk home because Reborn was too lazy, he got.

But the meditation?

Reborn's eyes flashed.

"Is that complaining I hear, dame-Tsuna?"

"No!" Tsuna quickly corrected. "I'm just wondering what we're supposed to be doing right now."

"Meditating," Reborn answered.

Tsuna contemplated pulling out his hair.

" _Why_ are we meditating?"

Reborn's lips twitched. Tsuna couldn't tell if he was amused or irritated. Maybe both. "Because I said so."

"Yeah, but _why_ do you say so?"

Finally, Reborn sighed.

"You need to gain an awareness of your flames."

"What does that even mean?!"

"Control your attitude, dame-Tsuna, and watch."

Reborn stood and grabbed a white candle from the kitchen drawer.

He placed it between them and closed his eyes.

As he inhaled, the candle slowly flickered to life, bright yellow. As he exhaled, the candle dimmed. The flame continued to follow his breathing patterns until Reborn looked up, cat-like, and the flame extinguished.

"If you can do that right now, I won't make you give me ten push-ups."

One pile of goopy, melted wax and ten push-ups later, Tsuna returned to doing the breathing exercises without complaint.

.

* * *

.

Nana received the call early in January.

During her year learning poetry in Italy, she had become quite close to her exchange-mate.

Lavina had been like family to her. They had grown close so quickly. The half-Japanese, half-Italian pianist had first spent six months at Namimori with the Homuras before Nana had gone and stayed with her. It was during that time when she had met Iemitsu for the first time.

In the resulting years after the trip, they had gotten out of touch despite all their promises otherwise.

Nana was surprised, but happy to see her old friend calling her up.

"Nana?"

"Lavina!"

Her friend laughed. They spent an hour, talking and catching up. Nana told her about Tsuna. Lavina told her about her son. They laughed and laughed, sometimes for no reason. Just happy to have reconnected.

Lavina seemed to be building up to saying something a few times before fizzling off. At the third time, Nana knew Lavina was finally ready.

"Nana, I know it's terribly rude, but I actually have a favor to ask of you… There's no one else I can ask."

"Whatever you need, I'll do for you. There's little I wouldn't."

"Hayato's father doesn't know about him… And the thing is… he's taking me to the hospital. It's just a screening… but it'll take a few days and I can't leave Haya—"

"I'll take him," Nana offered immediately. "For as long as you need me to."

"Really?"

"Really. Send him on over whenever. My home is always open to you and yours."

Lavina was dumbfounded.

"T-thank you so much, Nana. Wow. I… I won't forget this," Lavina promised, crying grateful tears.

Nana stayed on the phone till Tsuna got home. By the end of their conversation, she had gotten Lavina to promise to stay an extra week when she finished testing and came to pick up Hayato.

"Tsu-kun, my Italian friend's son will be staying with us for a little while next week."

His eyes flashed in excitement. "Really?! Does he speak Italian?"

Nana laughed. "Yes. You'll get to practice."

Tsuna smiled at her happiness.

"He can sleep in my room! It'll be like an extended sleepover."

"Maybe. I might just clear up the other guest room. He'll probably be pretty overwhelmed, so it'll be good for him to get some space if he needs it."

Tsuna pouted. "Well, we'll just ask him."

"Yes," Nana agreed.

She ran it by Reborn who didn't really seem to care.

"All set!" she cheered with Tsuna, after they had successfully cleared the second guest room together.

.

* * *

.

" _Nagi," Mukuro called._

 _She turned to face her older brother._

 _After hanging out for most of the night, Tsuna was the first to fall asleep, as usual. He didn't have long before he'd wake up in the real world._

 _The three of them were lying on the floor of Tsuna's beautiful mindscape._

 _Mukuro was no longer a cat. He lay on his back, Tsuna on his right and Chrome on his left._

 _Tsuna had fallen asleep hugging Roku, the cat. Thus, he was still embracing Mukuro now, head nestled on the mist's shoulder, smiling in his sleep. Her brother pulled him closer._

 _The buzz of his sky flames flowed through all of them, loving and gentle in a way both she and her brother had never felt before._

 _Like the aftertaste of an orange créme soda. Or the kiss of early autumn, when the heat and the breeze were just right._

 _Mukuro looked at the boy softly. Nagi smiled at the change of expression._

 _Her older brother had been contemptuous of her friend first, if not reluctantly grateful that he had helped save her failing organ systems._

 _Now, however…_

" _He's ours, isn't he?" her brother asked. "Our sky?"_

 _Nagi nodded. She thought so too._

" _Our sky," her brother repeated in a way that suggested he was thinking deeply on something. He pulled Tsuna closer again and Nagi relaxed into their combined flames,_

 _ **-indigo-orange-lilac-** _

_breathing softly as she fell asleep._

 _._

* * *

 _._

 _._

 **Hello my lovely readers,**

 **I have been absolutely overwhelmed at your response to the latest chapter. I am so awed and grateful right now, I can't even put it into words.**

 **I want to thank everyone who has been reading this story. I appreciate it so so much.**

 **I know this update is a little late, but I hope you will forgive me. I have been drowning in my Senior Seminar Project (which I will be presenting in 2 weeks, Aah!). I will probably be editing this chapter a little more later because I am a perfectionist.**

 **Some notes on the chapter:**

 **The line about lunar waves is inspired by a line from Neruda's poem "It Means Shadows."**

 **Kintsugi is a real thing and so beautiful (I recommend looking it up for the full effect).**

 **In case you were wondering, Reborn put a tracker in Tsuna's drink. I know it's a little invasive, but it'll stop working once Tsuna gets a little older. It's more for short-term than long-term. It's not that significant (I think) so feel free to forget it if you don't like it.**

 **About flame theory and about Lavina- Basically, I've thrown canon out the window, so forgive me.**

 **Also, since my pacing is horrible, we will probably be staying in this time period for a couple more chapters than originally planned (there was originally supposed to be a time skip after 2-3 chapters).**

 **Please leave a comment and let me know what you think! (Or if you have any questions, predictions, etc.)**

 **Even a smiley face makes my day!**

 **(Reviewers who I have not replied to yet, I promise I will get to you!)**

 **Love,**

 **\- Mmrose9**


	8. The Light Between Pianos and Cats

.

 _ **The Light Between Worlds**_

 _Chapter VIII: The Light Between Pianos and Cats_

 **"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats"**

 **\- Albert Schweitzer**

.

* * *

He had found her coughing. Leaning over the instrument they loved.

He was used to the gentle bend of her body when accompanied with curved fingers. Smooth, relaxed, beautiful. But today, her hands were clenched. Blood dripped from the edge of middle C, coagulating into a puddle on the floor.

He wavered. The overtones of her cough rang in his ears.

"Mom?"

She turned and Hayato screamed

awake.

His madre ( _alive— whole_ ) wrapped him up in her arms until the trembling stopped ( _for now_ ).

"I'm here," she whispered. "I'm here, I'm here, I'll always be here."

The words, like leopards and certain kinds of promises, were the type one simply couldn't keep.

.

* * *

Hayato survived and lived by many rules.

His madre was the best piano player in Italy. Her services were called upon ubiquitously. The places they went to were not always the safest or the most comfortable.

So Hayato had rules.

The first and most important rule was that he had to call his madre Lavina in public.

People weren't supposed to know they were related.

Sometimes, when they were going some place dangerous, his madre would dye his hair a different color and make him wear itchy contact lenses that always made his eyes sweat (Not cry. Hayato didn't do that. Crying was for babies).

His second rule was no making friends.

Friendship was messy. It never worked out. It only took away from his piano practicing time. Hayato didn't need anyone but his madre.

But recently, his madre was acting weird. Initially, Hayato wasn't too concerned. But now, she wanted to leave him in a foreign country with people he'd never heard of so she could go to the doctor's office.

 _The blood pooled on middle C_.

"It's just a couple of checks. I'll be away for maybe a week or two."

"I can just stay at home," Hayato offered hopefully. "I can take care of myself."

"I know you can, but I don't want you to. Besides, I've wanted to return to Japan for a while now. When I come to pick you up, we're staying another week."

"Is this Nana lady a relative?"

"No, not in the conventional sense. We're old friends who lost touch."

"So why do _I_ have to stay with her?"

"I'm not leaving you here alone."

"How will I practice piano in Japan?"

"I'll talk to Nana and ask her if they can arrange something."

"I don't want to go."

"Sorry. You have to. She has a son, maybe you'll become friends? He's around your age, maybe a little younger."

Great. A baby.

Hayato decided right then and there that he would hate that stupid kid until the cows came home.

"I don't speak Japanese fluently!"

"Nana speaks a little Italian. And you know enough to manage. Maybe your speaking abilities will improve being immersed in another language?"

Che.

He would go. But he would not be moved by heaven on earth to like it.

He tried to ignore his madre's look of relief at his easy compliance.

She was getting paler everyday. Like snow.

Hayato hated winter.

.

* * *

Things were immediately different from what he expected.

Nana and the stupid kid had come to pick him up.

Hayato balked away from their open arms. Who hugged strangers after meeting them for the first time?

" _Hello, Hayato_ ," Nana greeted slowly in Italian. " _Your mother's told me so much about you._ "

"Did you ride an airplane!" The kid asked, excitedly. Hayato refused to look at him. "What kind was it?!"

"Tsuna," Nana scolded.

Even his name was strange. Who named their kid after a fish?

"Sorry. Hello, Hayato, it's so great to meet you! I'm so glad you've come to visit us!" the Tuna fish kid said.

Hayato looked up, withering.

"I'm not here by choice."

The Tuna fish kid was stupidly pretty. Che.

His face fell, and Hayato rolled his eyes. He hoped the waterworks wouldn't start now. The kid seemed kind of fragile. Like one push would shatter him.

"My name is Tsuna," the kid said, introducing himself and ignoring Hayato's rudeness. "I know you're Hayato, but Mama didn't tell me anything else. So, now we're even," he added with a smile. "We can get to know each other from scratch."

"I don't really want to get to know you," Hayato replied brusquely.

The kid looked towards his mother who was on the phone a little to their right.

He probably wanted to tell on Hayato so his mother could come and fix everything. Nana didn't look back, Hayato noticed with a vindictive smile. _What are you going to do now?_

"Is it okay if I speak Italian with you? I'm still learning and I really want to practice."

Hayato frowned.

"Che. I don't care what you do."

" _Grazie_ ," the kid replied with a soft smile.

Hayato felt an odd stirring of guilt.

He dismissed it and kept walking, wheeling the suitcase with the kid's wordless help.

.

* * *

"This is your room," Nana stated, entering the room to open the window.

Hayato looked around appraisingly. It was nice, he grudgingly admitted.

It was reasonably sized with an attached bathroom. The walls were a soothing shade of green, and the bedspread was the complementary red.

There was a white desk with a little sticky note stuck on the middle.

"Welcome to our home!" was carefully penned out.

The scrawl probably belonged to the stupid kid. He had sketched a lion below. How foolish— leopards were obviously the superior creatures.

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in," Hayato growled.

It was the stupid kid. He was holding two tall glasses of lemonade.

" _I know you're probably settling in, but I thought… maybe… you'd like something to drink?_ "

Hayato secretly appreciated the Italian. He was a long ways from home, and the way the stupid kid spoke reminded him a little ( _just a little!_ ) of his madre. Not that he'd ever tell the stupid kid that.

" _Fine_ ," Hayato accepted, holding out his hand. He would have refused if he wasn't so thirsty.

He ignored the little smile that fluttered through the stupid kid's face.

" _Are you tired?_ "

Hayato shook his head and glared.

" _Well, um… if you want we could take a walk? I could show you around the neighborhood a little?_ "

" _There's no point. I'm not staying here for long._ "

" _Still, it might be nice? The weather's perfect right now_."

" _You're annoying. Che,"_ Hayato complained before grudgingly standing up.

Tsuna smiled. " _Sorry_ ," he laughed.

Hayato snorted at the lack of contriteness, before brusquely brushing past the stupid kid to stand outside.

.

* * *

As they walked, a tiny yellow canary fluttered down to perch in the stupid kid's hair. It tweeted a little song. The boy laughed and softly reached for the creature, who quickly hopped on to his fingers. Tsuna brought his hand forward and gently stroked the feathers of the bird with his thumb. It took off from his hand after it had been petted to its content.

Hayato was suddenly and strongly reminded of the princess movies he and his madre had watched whenever he had fallen sick. He shook his head to clear the image.

" _This is where my friend Takeshi plays baseball. He's in school right now. I'm not in school because Mama let me come home early because I wanted to go with her to the airport to pick you up._ "

Hayato ignored the stupid kid. He looked around curiously at the little suburb.

What a disgustingly boring town. He wished he was with his madre right at this moment. He should be with her, supporting her through all the health tests.

Suddenly, the kid kneeled by the alleyway. He looked up imploringly at Hayato.

" _I want to show you something I think you'll like._ "

Hayato rolled his eyes. He doubted anything the kid had to show him would impress him.

Tsuna slid forward a cardboard box. A cat suddenly stared up at Hayato in surprise. Hayato stared back. It was a mama cat with a kit.

Her eyes were bright green, and her fur was a pale, silvery grey.

Tsuna reached out, making soft crooning sounds with his voice. The mama cat responded with a meow and allowed herself to be petted. She didn't grow feral, Hayato noted with utter amazement. Not even when Tsuna stroked her kit.

" _Why are you showing me this?_ " Hayato asked, almost in awe.

" _Don't you like cats?_ " Tsuna asked.

Hayato frowned suspiciously. " _How did you know that?_ "

Tsuna shot him a dry look. Hayato looked down at his favorite shirt with a leopard on it.

" _Your luggage tag was a cat_ ," Tsuna replied. " _And besides, as soon as I saw your eyes, I knew I had to let you meet them. Aren't the colors almost exactly alike?_ "

Hayato nodded, still watching the cats together.

" _Do you want to try petting them?_ "

Hayato stilled.

" _Come here_ ," Tsuna encouraged, patting the space beside him with a smile.

Almost against his will, Hayato moved forward and took the offered seat.

Tsuna slowly introduced him to the cats, and after they had all gotten used to each other, they spent the rest of the time before dinner in silence, stroking the cats.

Hayato felt his tension and stress slipping away gradually, like the steady release of air out of a bicycle tire.

Before they left, the portly shopkeeper of the next door antique store came out.

"Tsuna-kun! How good to see you. Were you visiting these beauties again?"

"Yes, Riku-san. The little one is growing bigger everyday," Tsuna replied happily.

"Hoho, yes. Soon it won't need its mother's milk anymore. Now tell me, who's this little kitten?" The shopkeeper asked waving at Hayato.

"He's not a kitten, Riku-san! He's a boy, and his name his Hayato. He's staying with Mama and I this week."

Hayato bowed at the shopkeeper awkwardly.

"Very good. It's nice to meet you Hayato-kun. Hopefully you'll visit again, no? Anyway, I might bring these darlings in tonight. I heard we have a storm coming in."

"A storm?" Tsuna asked, suddenly pale.

"Yes. You boys better be heading home quickly."

"Thank you. Bye Lady, bye baby," Tsuna whispered to the cats, pressing little kisses on their heads. Hayato said his own goodbyes in his head.

"Bye, Riku-san!" Tsuna called as he grabbed Hayato's hand and sprinted forward.

" _Don't touch me!_ " Hayato yelled, before shaking off the other boy's grip.

Tsuna flinched. " _Sorry. I— I didn't mean to_. _Let's just go home_."

" _Your home. It's not mine._ "

" _While you're here, it's your home too_."

" _I don't want it to be my home_."

" _Oh_ ," Tsuna paused awkwardly. " _Umm… even if you don't want it to be your home, Mama and I will treat you like it is. While you're with us, you're family_."

" _I don't want to be part of your stupid family_."

Tsuna froze. The look on his face was like a falling teacup. You could see it fall— see it in the air for a silver of a second— but its breaking would always be a surprise. The paroxysm of porcelain. Irreparable.

"S-sorry, Hayato. I get carried away sometimes. D-don't mind me," Tsuna replied weakly. His voice shook like a branch in the wind.

Hayato could see him visibly widening his eyes to prevent the tears from falling.

Che. Now he felt uncomfortable.

They returned back in silence. The wind picked up and the sun was swallowed by a cloud.

.

* * *

"What did you boys do together?" Nana asked eagerly.

"We went to go visit the cats," Tsuna replied. He picked at his food with his chopsticks.

"What did you think of them, Hayato-kun? Aren't they beautiful?"

Hayato nodded lacklusterly.

He had messed up things with Tsuna. The kid was probably going to ignore him all week now. Not that he cared or anything.

"Reborn called. He should be home by the end of next week," Nana informed Tsuna.

Who was this Reborn person?

"Oh."

"He asked if you did your exercises today."

"Yes. In the morning before school," Tsuna replied mutedly.

Nana sighed.

"I know it seems long, dear, but he wouldn't have left if he had any other choice. This assignment really came up out of the blue."

Tsuna frowned and picked at his food some more.

"Is everything alright?" Nana asked worriedly, looking between the two of them.

Hayato was waiting for Tsuna to tell his mom about what a jerk Hayato had been, but he didn't.

He merely replied with a small, sad attempt at a smile. "We're just tired, Mama."

Nana smiled. "Early to bed it is. Did you get all your homework from Takeshi?"

"Takeshi's not in town right now. He left for some baseball thing."

"Oh! That's right. I forgot." Nana sighed. "Did you ask someone else?"

"Haruto-kun is still benched, so he helped me out. It's just workbook assignments, so I don't need any papers."

"Good. Now, Hayato-kun, tell me more about yourself. What do you do in your free time?"

Hayato hesitated. "I… I like playing the piano."

Nana smiled eagerly. "Your mother told me about that! Our neighbors have a piano you could borrow if you want to practice, though your Mamma said a week off wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing."

Hayato tried to smile. It came out more like a grimace.

"Of course if you would like to, the opportunity is always open."

Nana went on chattering. Tsuna barely said a word.

Hayato tried not to notice, but he couldn't help it.

Finally, dinner was over. Tsuna went to the kitchen to help clean up. Hayato offered, but was politely refused. "You just arrived, sweetie. You should go take a shower and try to sleep to work off that jetlag. If you'd like, we can try calling your mother later."

After the Sawadas had finished cleaning up, Nana dialed Lavinia.

"I'm so proud of you for being strong, Haya. I'm sorry I can't be with you, but I'm so glad you can stay with Nana. Are you getting along with her kid? Tuna?"

"Tsuna," Hayato quietly corrected.

"Oops. That's what I meant. I would really like it if you both could be friends. Could you try for me, baby?"

"Yes, Mama. H-how are you doing?"

"I was just admitted today. Testing starts tomorrow."

"O-okay. I… I love you."

"I love you too."

.

* * *

Tsuna was trying his best not to panic.

His nightmares were always the worst during storms. Reborn was away on an assignment. Takeshi had a baseball commitment. Hibari had gone with his family on a day trip to his mother's hometown because some distant relative had passed away.

He was going to be alone.

If he fell asleep, he could probably see Chrome and Roku. But there was an equal chance that he wouldn't.

The rain had started falling. It burst on the sidewalk like broken pottery.

He'd have to stay awake until the storm stopped. Tomorrow was Saturday. Mama would let him sleep in.

Lightning ripped across the sky, and Tsuna's body started trembling involuntarily.

He pulled the blanket closer.

His heart felt like it was trying to beat out of his chest. He clutched at it in vain with slippery, clammy hands. Sweat broke on his skin. His windpipe had sealed up. It was like he was in a vacuum. All the air had been sucked away. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of the water.

The storm rose in fury.

There was a sudden knock at his bedroom door.

 _The flash of the black pistol aimed at his head._

Tsuna jumped so hard, he almost fell from the bed. The door rattled again. It swung open.

"Tsuna? About earlier… I— shoot!"

Hayato's bright green eyes came into view. They were widened in shock.

"Are you… are you having a panic attack?"

Tsuna's breath rasped.

"Sorry. Just… Breathe with me. In and out. In and out. In and out. Can I… can I touch you?"

Tsuna nodded, trying to focus his breaths.

Hayato reached forward carefully, the way Tsuna had reached for the cat earlier that day.

" _It's okay. I'm here. It's okay. I won't hurt you. I'm sorry_."

As soon as Hayato was in reach, Tsuna scrambled forward into his open arms. He carefully rested his ear against Hayato's heart beat. In and out. In and out. The thump of the organ grounded him.

 _Kyoya is alive. Takeshi is alive. Chrome is alive._

 _I am alive._

 _We are all alive._

Breathe.

Hayato started humming "Clair de Lune." Tsuna vaguely recognized it from his mama's recordings of her friend playing.

Slowly, gradually, Tsuna calmed. His breathing returned to normal. His heart rate slowed. His death grip on Hayato loosened.

"I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize," Hayato refuted. He blushed in embarrassment. " _I'm_ the one who… who hurt you. _I'm_ sorry, Tsuna… I'm not used to kindness. I can't expect you to forgive me for what I said to you. But can we… can we start again?"

"Don't be overdramatic," Tsuna said with a laugh. "I've already forgiven you. And besides, this isn't exactly zero, is it?" he said gesturing to them. "We could probably call it friends, that is… if you're willing?"

Hayato froze.

Friends. He and Tsuna.

Friends.

"I… I don't think I'm worthy of being friends with you."

"Nonsense. No one has to be _worthy_ of friendship. Everyone needs it. It's like food. Besides, I really want to be friends with you."

Hayato looked up in shock.

"I… I want to be friends with you too. I… I would like that a lot."

Tsuna blushed. "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Thank you, Hayato."

"You don't have to thank me for that, Tsuna-san! I should be thanking you!"

Tsuna laughed. It was so infectious, Hayato couldn't help but join him.

"How did you know to do that?" Tsuna asked after they had finally stopped.

"Do what?"

"The attack. How did you know how to stop it?"

"My mom's a piano teacher. Sometimes, right before a performance, one of her students will have one. I just did what she did."

"Does she hum Clair de Lune too?"

Hayato blushed. "Not really. That was just… um… Clair de Lune was my lullaby when I was a kid. My mom would play it on the piano right before I fell asleep. I thought it would help."

"It did."

"I can… play it for you on the piano tomorrow if you want."

"I would love that… So do you want to be a pianist when you grow up then?"

"I'm not sure yet. Maybe… What about you?"

"I want to be a pilot!"

"A pilot? Is that why you asked me about the plane I was on?"

"Yes," Tsuna laughed. "Sorry for that."

"Stop apologizing, Tsuna-San. You really don't have to with me."

"O-okay. Sorry."

"Tsuna-San!"

"Ah, oops. I'm sor— Ah! I almost did it again."

Hayato laughed until his sides hurt. Tsuna joined him.

"Look, Tsuna-san. The storm is over."

"You're right," Tsuna said in relief.

"I'll go now."

"Wait!" Tsuna said, grabbing on to Hayato's arm. "Do you maybe want to stay so we can talk more?"

Hayato sat back down. "Okay."

Near dawn, they fell asleep in the middle of a sentence.

.

* * *

Tsuna woke up with Kyo sleeping on top of him. The steady pulse of flame exchange was as comforting as a heartbeat. Hayato was still asleep next to him.

His flames strained to bond them together, but he held them back. Hayato lived in Italy. A flame bond would only hurt them both.

As Tsuna stirred, Kyoya awoke. They communicated easily, through their flames.

 _Go back to sleep, baby carnivore_.

 _I can't. I'm already awake now._

 _Who is this and why is he sleeping here?_

 _This is Hayato. He's staying with us because his mom is not feeling well. He's sleeping here because I… I had a panic attack last night._

Kyo growled unhappily.

 _It's not your fault, Kyo. You had to go to the funeral. Hayato was here to help me through it._

Tsuna knew Kyoya would take his panic attack as a personal failing. He just didn't know how to convince him otherwise.

 _You didn't know there would be a storm tonight. It's okay. I'm fine now._

Kyo ran a hand through Tsuna's curls, a peculiar look on his face.

 _Should we go eat breakfast? I'll wake up Hayato._

 _Let the herbivore sleep._

 _Okay._

Kyo rose and Tsuna followed.

.

* * *

Soon after Tsuna had set the table, Hayato came down.

"Hayato! Meet Kyoya. He's like my older brother."

Hayato looked warily at Kyo. Kyo looked back, an eyebrow raised.

"Hello, Kyoya-san."

Kyo nodded.

Breakfast was a quiet affair. Nana and Tsuna tried to start conversations, but Kyoya and Hayato failed at continuing them.

After they ate, Kyo disappeared somewhere. Tsuna started his homework while Hayato read a few of Tsuna's Japanese picture books.

"Tsuna-sama! What if today we spoke Japanese, so I could practice?"

"Eh?! Hayato, you don't need to call me Tsuna-sama! Tsuna works just fine!"

"No. It's disrespectful."

"Not if I give you permission to call me that, which I just did."

"Tsuna-sama," Hayato repeated adamantly.

"Tsuna."

"Tsuna-sama."

" _Tsuna_."

"Tsuna-san?"

Tsuna huffed in frustration. "I guess that's better than Tsuna-sama."

.

* * *

 **Hi, Mmrose9 here.**

 **Sorry for the shorter update. I've come down with a nasty case of food poisoning and am having a little trouble staying coherent.**

 **I promise I'll have a longer update for you in May, I just wanted to get this chapter out so I didn't skip a month.**

 **Thank you so much for all of your comments and likes. I really appreciate them all so much.**

 **Love,**

 **\- Mmrose9**


	9. The Light Between Music and Loss

.

 _ **The Light Between Worlds**_

 _Chapter IX: The Light Between Music and Loss_

 **"I've learned a lot this year..**

 **I learned that things don't always turn out the way you planned,**

 **or the way you think they should.**

 **And I've learned that there are things that go wrong that don't always get fixed or**

 **get put back together the way they were before.**

 **I've learned that some broken things stay broken,**

 **and I've learned that you can get through bad times and keep looking for better ones,**

 **as long as you have people who love you."**

 **—** **Jennifer Weiner**

.

* * *

.

"This is the hardest song I know how to play," Hayato explained, turning back from the piano bench.

Tsuna nodded.

"Mom says it still needs a lot of work, so it's not even close to perfect."

Tsuna nodded again.

"My fingers can't reach all the keys yet, so some of the chords are simplified."

Tsuna smiled and nodded yet again.

"If you get bored, just tell me and I'll stop playing."

Tsuna finally intervened. "Hayato, I won't get bored. In fact, _I_ was the one who asked you to play. And it's okay if it's not perfect, I would still love to hear you play as much of it as you can."

"Okay, Tsuna-sama."

Tsuna's eyebrow twitched. " _Ha-ya-toooo._ "

"Sorry, Tsuna- _san_."

Hayato turned back to the keys and took a breath. Tsuna leaned forward.

He began to play.

And Tsuna was pulled away into a scene defined only by its entrenchment in moonlight.

It was not a perfect rendition by any means. Yet it was so beautiful it did not matter.

The swirling chords were almost magical. It should be impossible to move one's fingers so fast and fluidly.

Hayato played piano like he was plucking the strings of a harp.

He left each note in the air and they came to life on their own, resonating peacefully.

Tsuna felt his flames awaken deep inside him, but he held them back.

The ending of the piece felt like the last blink of the eyes before falling asleep. Like a sigh, or a smile.

Hayato lifted his hands off the keys. He nervously turned back to analyze Tsuna's expression.

"Did you like it?"

Tsuna nodded wordlessly, wiping at moist eyes.

"Can you play it again?"

Hayato smile was soft, like the reflection of the moon on water.

"Okay."

He turned back to the keys and lifted his hands.

They came down.

After Tsuna had heard the song five times, Nana finally came to collect them both for dinner.

"Why do you like it so much, Tsuna?" Hayato asked as they walked back home.

"Well first of all, it's just really pretty."

Hayato nodded in agreement.

"And when you play it, it's like…" Tsuna hesitated.

"Like what, Tsuna-sama?"

Tsuna shot Hayato a displeased look for the honorific, but made no comment.

"It's like if you were a song, you'd be that song. When you play it, I can hear who you are."

Hayato blushed. "Really? The song actually reminds me of you."

" _Me_?"

Hayato nodded. "It's soft, but powerful."

Tsuna turned red.

"Well then, if you were a song, what song would you be?" he asked.

"I like Chopin's Etude Opus 25, Number 11. It's called Winter Wind." Hayato spoke with his hands. It was kind of cute.

"Can you—?

"No. I really can't play it yet, though I want to learn one day. My mom said she'll teach me when I get older. I can show you a recording of it after dinner."

"Okay."

.

* * *

.

"Takeshi, meet Hayato. He's staying with my family this week."

Takeshi smiled. "Hey, Hayato-kun. What's up?"

"Hayato, this is Takeshi, he's one of my best friends."

Hayato nodded stiffly.

"Do you like baseball?" Takeshi asked.

"I've never played it."

Takeshi looked scandalized. "We have to play it now."

Tsuna laughed. Hayato looked confused.

"Here," Takeshi said, giving his bat to Hayato. "I'll pitch first and you bat. Tsuna, stand behind me and try to catch Hayato's ball and tag him out."

Tsuna nodded seriously.

Hayato looked back and forth between the bat and the ball in Takeshi's hand.

"I'm supposed to hit _that_ , with _this_?"

Takeshi nodded. "And then run to the first base. Don't worry— it's not as hard as it seems. Let's play ball!"

The first throw went sailing by Hayato. He looked so utterly flabbergasted, Tsuna had to bite his lip hard to stop himself from laughing. The second ball went similarly.

Takeshi finally took pity on Hayato.

"You're supposed to hold the bat like this."

"Don't tell me what to do," Hayato scoffed.

Takeshi laughed. "Maa, maa, I'm just trying to help."

"Then you would have told me before."

"Doesn't it just come naturally?"

At the statement, Tsuna, who had been walking towards them once he saw them stop, shook his head and rolled his eyes at Takeshi.

"You're a baseball idiot," Hayato proclaimed angrily.

"Well, your hair looks like an octopus."

Hayato widened his eyes and looked offended.

"Baseball Idiot!" he yelled.

"Octopus Head!" Takeshi replied, laughing.

Tsuna paused, not sure if he should intervene or not.

" _Baseball Idiot_!"

" _Octopus Head_!"

" _Baseball Idiot_!"

" _Octopus Head_!"

It was kind of funny to be honest. He was so happy that Hayato and Takeshi were getting along.

"Last pitch," Takeshi said, ending their bickering.

He threw the ball.

Hayato's eyes were narrowed like a hawk.

He hit the ball right out of the park.

Takeshi and Tsuna cheered, and Hayato blinked in surprise.

"Run!" Takeshi yelled. "Get to first base!"

Still holding the bat, Hayato sprinted towards the base.

"I'll go find the ball!" Tsuna yelled, running in the direction the ball had flown in.

"Hurry, Tsuna!"

Despite his best attempts, Tsuna's search for the ball soon proved unfruitful. He looked down the path, his head down, trying to see if it fell somewhere on the side.

Maybe it had gone the other way...

He started walking backwards.

Suddenly, he was lying on the ground.

He had run into Ryohei. Literally.

"Extreme! Aren't you my imouto's friend?"

Tsuna blinked up, dazed. "Hi, Ryohei-san."

"You visited me in the hospital before! That was extreme!"

"Oh! It was no problem, Senpai. I'm so happy you've recovered!"

"Yes! I am extremely fine! I'm back to boxing now!" Ryohei yelled, lifting his closed fist up high. His hand was closed around some kind of object.

Wait.

Tsuna blinked.

"Ryohei-san, is that a baseball?"

"It is! I was just running and this ball came out of nowhere and hit me on the head. It was extremely unpleasant!"

"Oh! Sorry. That's our ball, Ryohei-san. We were playing baseball and Hayato hit a home run. We didn't mean for you to get hit by it. Could I have it back please?"

Ryohei's eyes suddenly glinted.

"I'll only give it back if you beat me in an extreme boxing match!"

Tsuna's jaw-dropped. "What?!"

"You heard me! Fight me in a boxing match!"

"Where? When? How?"

"Right now, right here! I always have boxing equipment on me!"

"Eto… I don't know how to box."

"It's easy! You wear the gloves and you punch!"

Tsuna hesitated.

A call suddenly rose from the bushes. "Tsuna-sama! Where _are_ you?!"

"I'm here!" he yelled back to Gokudera. "And it's Tsuna, Hayato!"

He heard Takeshi laugh.

His friends emerged on to the path and moved towards him.

"Why'd you take so long, Tsuna? Hayato ran around the diamond three whole— Oh, Ryohei-senpai!"

"You know him, Takeshi?" Tsuna asked, surprised.

"Of course! He's the Head of Sports for student council at the elementary school!"

"Oh, that's cool. Ryohei-san found our ball," Tsuna informed Takeshi and Hayato.

"Oh! That's great. Thanks, Ryohei-senpai." Takeshi reached out for the ball.

"No!" Ryohei bellowed. "I'll only give you your ball if Tsuna beats me in an extreme boxing match!"

"I'm sorry, Ryohei-san, but I can't box."

"Then it's extremely unfortunate you won't get your ball! Are you afraid of losing?"

"Ryohei-senpai," Takeshi started, "Now is not the—"

"Ha! Tsuna-sama can definitely crush you in any boxing match, anytime! Prepare for defeat, knave!" Hayato vowed confidently.

"No I can't, Haya!" Tsuna cried out, alarmed.

"Don't worry, Tsuna-sama! I believe in you! And the Baseball Idiot does too, right?"

Takeshi scratched his head and smiled. "Maa, I don't think it's right to force Tsuna into doing something he doesn't want to, but if he were to fight, I'd believe in him too!"

Tsuna didn't know whether he should feel touched or horrified.

"Guys! I can't box. I… I don't know how."

"Don't worry, Tsuna-sama. It's all about center of mass. On the human body, the center of mass lies somewhere around the second sacral vertebrae."

"I don't know where that is, Hayato!"

"Just punch him, Tsuna! Like whooosh!" Takeshi told him sagely.

"Whoosh?"

"Yes. Like _whooooosh_!" Takeshi said, miming a punch with the sound effect.

Tsuna looked on in despair.

"Fight me now, Tsuna!"

Ryohei threw the boxing gloves towards Tsuna who caught them in a fumble. He thoughtlessly slid them on.

"EXTREME START!" Ryohei barked.

"Eeeek!" Tsuna squeaked as Ryohei came barreling towards him, fist out.

Tsuna dodged by tumbling to the left. The blow went sailing to his right. Ryohei-senpai wasn't holding anything back; he could feel the wind whip past with the extended fist.

Tsuna's eyes widened.

He dodged the left hook that was approaching fast. Blood rushed to his ears like a wave crashing on the shoreline.

His mind was starting to clear again, falling into the orange haze that he usually entered when fighting Kyo.

Ryohei's movements were slow compared to Kyo's. Tsuna easily avoided all of the blows raining on him. Ryohei upped the intensity when he saw how easily Tsuna weaved in and out of his attacks.

Before long, Tsuna could feel his flames swirl up inside him, like a cloud of dust. They tugged on his reins, straining to be released.

An image of charred, blistering flesh bloomed behind Tsuna's eyelids.

No!

Tsuna tripped, barely catching himself.

He needed to end this soon.

Should he concede?

But Ryohei-san was fighting so hard. It wasn't fair to—

Another blow went whistling by and Tsuna's flames reared up.

The air sparked orange.

Tsuna's slick hands trembled as he forced his flames down. The boxing gloves were sliding off his sweaty hands.

He couldn't do this.

What if he burned Kyoko's brother like he had burned the Cheshire man?

What if Ryohei died because of Tsuna's flames?

 _No_. _No_. _No_.

Burned flesh smelled greasy, like hair and melted plastic.

Tsuna could still smell it now. It was stuck in his nose.

His stomach reacted unpleasantly to the memory. He felt like he was going to puke.

Tsuna stumbled again, his field of vision narrowing.

Everything was going fuzzy at the ends, like an old photograph or video.

The butterflies in his stomach began rising through his esophagus.

 _Tsuna?_ Takeshi called with his flames. _Are you okay?_

His flames metaphysically tumbled towards Takeshi to complete an exchange before Tsuna could control them. Takeshi's rain flames felt like a sip of matcha tea. Calming, like sitting on the porch and watching puddles form one droplet at a time. A huge pressure had been lifted off of his shoulders.

Tsuna smiled in relief.

 _I'm okay now_ , he replied.

He waited until Ryohei punched forward again, then let the orange haze direct his movements.

Reaching for Ryohei's outstretched fist, he tugged the boy further forward. Off balance, Ryohei moved to put his foot down. Before he could, Tsuna moved with his leg to trip the older boy.

Ryohei looked up dazed.

Tsuna reached forward with his gloved hand to help Ryohei up.

"Could we please stop now, senpai?"

Ryohei's eyes glistened happily.

"I knew it! Sawada Tsunayoshi! You will become an extreme member of my boxing team!"

"But I didn't even use a boxing move just now."

"It doesn't matter! Boxing can be taught! The true fighter's extreme spirit cannot! And you have that."

Tsuna turned red. Hayato looked far too proud.

"That's our Tsuna!" Takeshi cheered.

"T-thank you, senpai."

"Then it's decided—" Ryohei started.

"No, senpai! While I'm really happy that—"

"Call me Onii-san from now!"

"Eto… O-o-onii-san, I don't want to box."

"Why not?!"

"Umm, it's more of your thing, o-onii-san. I want to be a pilot one day, so I was thinking of joining the—"

"We practice every Tuesday and Wednesday after school!"

Tsuna sighed in frustration. "I can't."

"You can't?"

"I can't," Tsuna said, suddenly coming up with something. "I patrol with Kyo-nii on those days."

"You mean Hibari-kun?! I'll extremely talk to him!" Ryohei yelled. "Even if you can't join my boxing team, you should jog with me, otouto. I've seen you running in the morning. I do one lap of town at 5 AM. I'll pick you up Monday through Friday."

"Wait. Wha-" Tsuna started, alarmed.

"In the meanwhile, Senpai, do you want to play baseball with us?" Takeshi asked eagerly.

"Wait."

Tsuna was ignored.

"That sounds like an extreme idea!" Ryohei called. He tossed the ball towards Takeshi, who caught it easily.

"We're just in the field over there."

Tsuna opened and closed his mouth, floundering. Finally he gave up and jogged to catch up with his friends.

 _Well, it looks like I'm running with senpai now. Hopefully, he'll be nicer than Reborn._

Fate laughed condescendingly.

.

* * *

After a couple of games of baseball, the heat got too much and they retreated inside to Tsuna's house for a game of Monopoly.

Takeshi and Tsuna got out early, but Hayato was still in.

Ryohei was slowly bleeding him dry.

"Tsuna! If I win, you and your friends will join my boxing team!" the boxer called out happily.

Tsuna's eyes widened.

"Hayato! You have to win!" he begged.

"Don't worry, Tsuna-sama. I will bring this knave to his knees for you!"

Despite his promise, Hayato was most definitely losing the game.

Finally, Tsuna had no choice. He raced downstairs, tripping over the last step as per usual. Quickly rising to his feet, he skidded towards the kitchen with his sock-clothed feet.

"Mama! Mama! Can we make sugar cookies?"

Nana looked up from the newspaper she had been reading.

"Now, Tsuna? It's almost dinner—"

"Please, Mama! It's an emergency."

Nana laughed. "Okay, okay. I'll get the dough ready. You bring your friends downstairs. You guys can decorate and eat them after dinner."

"Yes! Thank you, Mama. You're the best!"

Nana smiled as Tsuna sprinted back upstairs.

"Guys! Guys!"

Hayato and Ryohei looked up. Hayato looked desperate, Ryohei looked victorious.

The game wasn't over yet though.

"My mom said we can make sugar cookies, but we have to go right now if we want to."

"But the game?" Ryohei asked.

"We can always finish it later," Tsuna said. "Don't you guys want cookies?"

Takeshi and Hayato stood up eagerly.

"Ha! I'll beat you after cookies," Hayato promised.

Finally, Ryohei reluctantly agreed.

He cheered up significantly when he saw the Sawadas had a boxing glove cookie cutter.

After they had all put their cookies in the oven, Nana made them stay down for dinner.

Halfway through the meal, Nana pulled the cookies out of the oven so they could cool.

After they ate, Tsuna helped Nana find all of the decoration materials.

Hayato had done music notes cookies. He elegantly decorated them with red and green frosting, and sparkly crystal sprinkles.

Takeshi had cut out circles in the dough to make little baseballs. However, in the middle of doing the red stitching, he accidentally smudged the white and red frosting, so his cookies turned out pink.

Tsuna did airplanes and clouds, which he decorated with silver sparkles and orange frosting.

Ryohei of course did boxing gloves, which he didn't decorate so much as cover in different colors of frosting and different types of sprinkles. Hayato called them monster cookies.

They had each made four, so they traded them around until they had one of each kind.

"Yours is too pretty to eat, Haya," Tsuna sighed.

Hayato smiled. "I like yours too, Tsuna."

Nana took lots of pictures.

After they had cleaned themselves and the kitchen of frosting and put everything away, Nana took Takeshi and Ryohei home since it had gotten late.

The game of Monopoly went (fortunately) unfinished.

.

* * *

Lavina arrived at the Sawada home the following Saturday evening.

Her eyes widened when she saw her son laughing happily with a group of other boys in the backyard, by a little bonfire making smores.

"Tsuna has some friends over," Nana explained, bustling around the kitchen as she prepared a plate of dinner for her friend. "Though I think their Hayato's friends now too."

Lavina watched as one boy chased her son with a marshmallow.

"Which one's yours?" she asked Nana.

The mother pointed to a laughing, chestnut-haired boy. As her son approached, he reached out a hand and pulled Hayato in behind him on his seat.

"Safe!" he called to the other boy, who groaned.

"Kyo-nii!" the chestnut haired child called happily. "Will you play too?"

Another grumpy looking boy hissed. The sticky marshmallow stuck to his cheeks diminished the effect significantly.

Lavina smiled.

"So, Lav," Nana started, trying to be casual. "What were the results?"

The question struck something fierce in Lavina's heart. She looked upon her child sadly, then turned towards her friend.

"The doctors say that I have a terminal condition," she started, her voice low and gravely. "It's genetic."

Nana froze.

Her eyes started stinging.

"Oh no, Lav…"

"I know."

Lavina's eyes dripped. Nana couldn't control her tears either.

"Come here, goose, don't cry. It'll be okay," Lavina said, opening her arms for Nana.

"I'm supposed to be comforting you," Nana wailed.

"It's okay. I've had a while to understand this."

The two friends embraced.

Nana sobbed, trying to stop her heart from breaking. She had only just reconnected with Lavina and now…

"Did the doctors say…?"

"They didn't, but I went to see Shamal afterwards. Maybe a year. A little more if I'm lucky."

"Okay," Nana said, trying to compose herself. "Okay."

Lavina was standing right in front of her, a little pale, a little tired, but alive.

Yet Nana couldn't deny the immense sense of loss she already felt looking at her. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on seeing her friend, rather than her friend's fate.

No one deserved to be looked through as if they were already gone.

"Do you know what you're going to do afterwards?"

"No…" Lavina replied softly, looking back towards Hayato. "I really don't."

Her son chased Nana's boy. Tripping over a chair, Nana's son tumbled dangerously close to the bonfire.

Nana opened the patio door.

"Kids! No playing duck duck goose by the fire," she ordered.

"Sorry, Mama!" her son replied with a laugh.

Lavina tried to hide the jealousy she felt looking upon the scene. She was not envious of them, but envious of time. Her friend would get so many years with her child. She only had one.

She had to make the most of it.

.

* * *

"Madre," Hayato said shyly. "This is Tsuna, he's my best friend."

" _Piacere di conoscerti_ , _zia_ ," Tsuna greeted her. "Mama's told me so much about you." His voice was soft, like bells.

Lavina smiled. "Your mama and Hayato has told me so much about you, too. I didn't know you spoke Italian so well."

Tsuna blushed. "Oh! Thank you. I'm still learning though."

"He speaks like a native, Mama!" Hayato praised with a smile. "And he likes Claire de Lune, too."

Lavina laughed. She had never seen her son so… _happy_ before.

She had always been concerned that he never hung out with other kids his age. She worried that it was her fault; that she had imposed rules that were too hard on him.

It was all to protect him from his father.

Gabriele would take him from her the minute he saw his child. The heir he had always longed for.

Lavina wanted something different for him.

She wanted him to have a simple life of music and happiness.

But Hayato hadn't been so happy in such a long time. Could Lavina even make him happy?

 _Maybe, just maybe, that was a life he could have here, with the Sawadas?_

"Mama! Can you play Claire de Lune for Tsuna? I want him to hear you play it," Hayato asked, smiling.

"Of course," Lavina agreed. "Now, where is this piano you've told me about."

.

* * *

The Gokuderas left after a week.

Lavina had spent the week, carefully analyzing as much as she could about the Sawadas and their life.

Mostly, she watched Tsuna and Hayato interact.

They were close friends, she noted. She was worried Hayato would try to make trouble apart from her. She was pleased to note he had adapted so well. But maybe that was just because it was the Sawadas.

It was impossible to dislike the Sawadas. They were such warm, open people- Nana and Tsuna both. They could make you feel at home even if you'd only met them 5 minutes ago.

Lavina approached Nana on the last day of their visit.

"Nana, I want to thank you for taking in Hayato last week. I've never seen him so happy before," Lavina said, voice filled with gratitude. "I also want to thank you for hosting both of us this week."

"Oh! It was no problem at all," Nana replied. "We love your son. He's a part of our family now and always. The same goes for you, Lavina. Our house is always open to you."

She was making the right decision. She knew she was. Nana was the most trustworthy person she had ever met. Hayato was close friends with Tsuna. Japan was far far away from Italy and Gabriele.

"I need to ask you something, Nana, but it's a very big commitment, and I understand if you say no."

Nana nodded curiously. "You can ask me anything, Lav."

Lavina took a breath, filling her lungs with oxygen. In a year, these lungs would... No. She had to focus.

"After I pass away, would you take Hayato in as another son?'

Nana was visibly taken aback.

"Me, Lavina? You'd want _me_ to take care of Hayato?"

"He's happy here. That's all I've ever wanted for him."

"But, he's only been here two weeks."

"I know, Nana. But I see Tsuna and Hayato interact, and I know their friendship will last. And... there's nobody else I can trust with this. My father has involved himself in something beyond his control. You know what Shamal's like... You're the only one I can ask this of. I have nobody I can entrust Hayato with but you. But I don't need anybody else. You're perfect, Nana. You love him already."

Nana swiped at her misty eyes.

"I loved him from the moment I saw him. I… It would be the greatest honor."

Lavina brushed away her tears.

"Thank you, Nana."

The two friends embraced, lingering in each other's orbits before the inevitable parting.

Then Lavina woke Hayato from bed and they left.

Nana watched them leave, wondering if she should have woken up Tsuna. He'd be mad at her.

Reborn was coming back today. His mission had been extended another week because of some sort of complication. Nana wasn't allowed to know the details. Hopefully he'd be able to cheer Tsuna up.

She'd call him later to ask about his flight plans. She'd have to tell him about her future charge.

Thinking about Lavina and Hayato made her heart ache.

There were so many terrible people on this planet, but only the best ones ever seemed to die.

How could fate be so cruel?

It was an inherent flaw in the universe's design.

Lavina changed lives with her music. Her loss would shake the world.

And Hayato didn't deserve to lose his mother. It would shatter him.

Nana wiped the tears that had started falling again.

Hopefully Tsuna could give Hayato the support he needed. Hopefully she could too.

Hopefully. Hopefully. _Hopefully_.

.

* * *

Tsuna's skyscape was a garden today. It had been taking that shape more often.

He found Nagi and Roku by the lotus pond.

The pink-purple flowers drifted languidly on the glassy surface. Nagi's hands trailed beside them, spinning rippling circles in the water.

He sat and Roku immediately leapt into his lap.

Tsuna laughed at the cat, kissing him behind one of his ears. Roku meowed and headbutted Tsuna's hand.

Nagi smiled at the scene. "Hi."

Their flames greeted one another— _purple, indigo, and orange entwined_.

Roku and Nagi's flames always felt calming. Calming, but also deeply pervasive— like opening his mouth underwater and letting his lungs fill with water. Tsuna felt the spirals of their dark purple-blue flames fondly wrap around his heart, pulsing through his veins to his lungs. He knew his own orange flames sang in the thrum of their arteries.

Nagi asked about his life and Tsuna told her about Hayato and Ryohei. He spoke until she was up to date on his life again, trying to make her laugh with their antics as often as possible.

"I'm so excited for you to meet everyone," Tsuna hummed happily. "I think you'd really get along with Kyo. And Hayato likes skulls, like you!"

Nagi's smile was tinged with something bittersweet. "I'm excited to meet them one day, too," she echoed softly.

"Are you out of the hospital yet?" Tsuna asked eagerly, caressing the red and blue-eyed cat under the chin. Roku purred.

Nagi drew another circle in the water. "No."

Tsuna frowned. "I'll come visit you in real life."

"There's no point. I'm still asleep. We're just waiting."

"Do you spend all day here?"

"No. I have my own scape. Everyone does."

"Really? Can I… can I see it?"

Nagi looked down, hesitating.

"Don't feel like you have to show me. If you don't want to, I get it."

"No it's just… my mindscape is not beautiful like yours. If I could, I'd spend all day here. Mine is… scarier… uglier."

"If it's who you are Nagi, I can't imagine it could ever be ugly."

"I share some parts of my mindscape with my brother. Those parts are the darkest. But my own parts are dark too. Could you… could you still be my friend— our friend— if you saw something terrible? Could you risk losing what we have?"

Tsuna paused for a moment, giving the question the thought it deserved. "Yes," he answered seriously. "I want to understand you better. I only get to see you here, and I want to be your friend. I want to know everything there is to know about you, or at least everything that you are willing to let me know."

Nagi looked surprised, then determined. She stood up. Tsuna followed her motion. Roku made a disgruntled sound at their sudden movement.

"What form does it take?"

"It changes. But usually, it has no form. Now follow me."

As they walked, the sky transitioned from orange to purple. Finally they paused before a door. It was steel and felt cold to touch.

Nagi paused. "Tsuna… are you sure?"

"I'm ready Nagi. No matter what I see, it wouldn't change our friendship."

Roku weaved between his legs. Tsuna reached down to pick the cat up.

"Okay."

And Nagi opened the door.

The first impressions Tsuna got were not sight, but sounds, air, color, and light.

It was an imagination garden. Thoughts bloomed like ink on a page. Like a splash of ink or blood on white vellum.

They walked forward.

Memories flowed like streams in a never ending current.

Overwhelming surges of loneliness and fear rushed through him.

For a moment, the mindscape became a vast ocean. They were as significant as droplets of rain in the sky. Utterly inconsequential. Lightning lit up the black sky and thunder burst in time with the waves. He, Nagi, and Roku were floundering on a broken raft. Tsuna tucked Roku deeper into his arms to keep him safe. He reached for Nagi, who reached back. Before their hands could connect, the wave crashed over them, sinking the raft. They were swallowed by the wave. Tsuna opened his mouth to breathe, but only water rushed in.

His eyes stung from the saltwater.

He closed them, and when he opened them, he, Nagi, and Roku were

falling

down

the

side

of a

cliff.

The wind was screaming in his ears and butterflies swirled through his stomach. The gray jagged rocks rushed towards them, like a knight on a black horse charging to joust.

Impact.

The mindscape grew silent. They were in space. The cold set in, settling in Tsuna's bones. The light from the stars burned cold. He couldn't breathe. They drifted in front of the sun and everything blistered.

Tsuna blinked.

The room transformed into some kind of hospital. The floor was covered in blood. Broken echoes of screaming children drifted into Tsuna's ears.

Pain flared up somewhere deep inside him.

Roku hissed, and Tsuna tried to comfort the cat.

"Shh, it's okay, Roku," he whispered, trying to swallow down his own fear.

The screaming got louder, and there was the loud thump of approaching footsteps. They stopped in front of the room the three of them were in.

Tsuna held his breath and tried to stay quiet.

The door suddenly flung open.

A doctor in a plague mask stood on the threshold. He entered the room, making his way towards Tsuna.

The doctor reached for Roku. Tsuna tumbled backwards, trying to avoid the man.

"Stay away!"

The plague doctor pulled out a long needle and moved towards them menacingly. The fluid in the injection was a festering yellow.

He had just reached them when

the bloody hospital room transformed into a broken rooftop.

A faceless figure stood by the door to the stairs and pulled out a revolver. He pointed it at Nagi.

Tsuna screamed, diving forward to protect his friend. _Not again. Not again. Not again._ The bullet collided with his back, digging into layers of muscle and bone. His back exploded in pain.

Nagi screamed and cried, pulling him into her arms. He coughed blood on her white dress, staining it red. Roku wailed in his arms.

Blink.

They were standing in a busy road.

A silver cat ran in front of an approaching speeding truck. Tsuna looked at Nagi desperately. Her eyes were wide and she was panicking.

She couldn't experience the accident again. Tsuna wouldn't let her.

He passed her Roku.

Then with a great shove, he pushed her out of the way.

He let the car shatter him like he was made of glass.

Nagi screamed again, and her voice echoed in his ears.

Tsuna let go of the reins on his flames. They burst out of him like an exploding nebula and spread through Nagi's mindscape like ripples in the lotus pond, interlacing with the infrastructure of her world.

Everything was on fire. The mirage shimmered away, dissolving like fog in the wake of the sun.

The chaotic mindscape rematerialized, locking into place.

Tsuna closed his eyes to soothing blackness.

.

* * *

They found themselves in a misty cherry blossom forest at the edge of a silvery river. Tsuna and Nagi's feet were immersed in the water. Petals scattered on the glassy surface of the slow-moving river and drifted downstream, like shooting stars in the river's galaxy.

Roku stretched out between them.

Nagi looked around in amazement.

"What did you do?" she asked breathlessly, reaching for a glossy petal.

"I… I don't know. Is this what it's supposed to be like?"

Nagi laughed and reached out to splash the water. Roku meowed in alarm.

"I… I've never seen it like this before. Maybe?"

"I think it is. It feels like you. At least more than the other places did."

"It sure is something."

"It's beautiful," Tsuna said, catching a falling petal in his hand. He flicked Roku's nose with it and the cat playfully pounced.

"It feels right. Like Cinderella's glass slipper."

Tsuna smiled, then frowned.

"Before now, when you weren't with me, did you spend all of your time here?"

Nagi froze and nodded.

"Oh. What… what were all of those scenes? Were they all memories?"

Nagi hesitated. She pressed her lips together for a moment, like she always did when she was thinking deeply on something.

Tsuna waited patiently, drawing flowers down Roku's spine. The cat kneaded Tsuna's lap.

Finally, Nagi spoke. "No, they weren't all memories. Some of them were things I or Mukuro had read in books. The ocean, for example. And space. They felt like how our hearts have felt before."

"Mukuro— he was your brother?"

"Yes."

"Where is he now? Does he come visit you in the hospital?"

"I- I don't know where he is. Our parents gave him away because they owed some people a lot of money."

"Gave him away?! To whom?!"

"I... I don't know. Some kind of scientists or something. Mama said that if I asked too many questions, she'd give me away too."

Tsuna bristled angrily. "They can't do that! They're not allowed to! How... how could they ever even _think_ of leaving you?! And how could they just _give your brother away_?! Parents aren't supposed to do that!"

Nagi patted Tsuna's hand reassuringly. "I know... I'm okay, Tsuna. Calm down."

Tsuna inhaled and exhaled deeply. His anger called forth his flames stronger than before. They wanted him to burn the world— torch whatever went against his will, his justice. He tried to choke them down, but they fizzed beneath his skin like a shaken can of soda.

 _Breathe_.

Suddenly, he felt a rush of dark indigo flame tip into his sphere. The flames exchanged with his burning orange and his anger subsided. He smiled down at Roku. _Thanks_ , he mouthed. The cat headbutted him again.

He turned to Nagi. "Could... could I help you find your brother? You both could come stay with me."

Nagi's smile was bright but sad, like the stars. "That sounds like some kind of dream, Tsuna. But I'm still asleep right now, ne?"

"When you wake up, then. What about your brother?"

"I can speak with Mukuro-nii pretty easily."

"Through the mindscape?"

"Yes."

"Do you know where he is?"

"He's trapped somewhere."

"The hospital we saw?"

"Maybe. It wasn't my memory, after all."

"Just to check: the hospital, the road, and the rooftop were all memories?"

"Yes. Some of them were Mukuro-nii's, others were mine. There are more that you didn't see, but they aren't really all that happy."

"And you have to relive them?"

"Yes."

"Over and over again?"

"Yes. Tsuna… are you crying?"

Tsuna sniffed, brushing away his tears.

"You must have been so scared here. I'm sorry."

Nagi reached forward, wrapping Tsuna in a hug.

"Why are you sorry, silly? You've done so much for me, and we haven't even met in real life." Nagi sniffed and failed to swallow down a sob.

One tear led to another and before long, the two children were clinging to each other, crying their lungs out.

It was uncontrollable, like a winter storm. Tsuna's head hurt from crying so much, but he still couldn't stop. Nagi held on to him desperately, like he was her only tether to the earth. Tsuna hugged her in return, trying to comfort while simultaneously needing it himself.

Roku finally ended their hysterical weeping session by pouncing on a petal floating in the river.

He landed in the river with a loud splash.

Tsuna and Nagi froze, the tears on their sticky cheeks still wet. They looked towards each other in shock.

After a minute, Roku dragged himself out of the water looking like a half-drowned rat.

Tsuna's lips twitched.

Nagi cleared her throat to swallow the giggles bubbling up inside her.

They both failed in the end.

They laughed until their cheeks hurt and their bellies ached. They laughed until their tears were dry and they started crying again for another reason. They laughed and laughed and laughed.

Roku, his aim accomplished, took his seat on Tsuna's lap with a huff.

"Silly cat," Tsuna said affectionately, rubbing at the cat's damp fur with his shirt.

"It's no use, Tsuna. Leave it. He'll dry up eventually," Nagi said, wiping away at her tears of laughter.

"Will this do?" Tsuna asked the cat.

Roku thought for a moment, before nodding and leaping off Tsuna.

As soon as the cat was off, Tsuna fell back with a thud on to the grass. "I feel so tired now."

Nagi nodded in agreement.

Her sky was filled with stars.

"Do you know any constellations?" Tsuna asked with a yawn.

"Yes. And the stories too."

"Ooh, really? Can you tell me one please?"

Nagi nodded.

"Those stars there are Andromeda. Andromeda's mother was obsessed with prettiness. She made the gods mad because she cared too much about it. So to get back at her, they made a monster whale to ruin the world. To make them happy again, the gods told Andromeda's mother that she would have to sacrifice Andromeda to the monster whale. And she did."

"That's horrible," Tsuna gasped.

"Yes, but right before Andromeda was eaten, she was saved by the hero, Perseus."

"Really?"

"Yes. And they both became friends afterwards."

Tsuna smiled. "Tell me another one."

Nagi smiled back. She pointed to the next set of stars. "That's Aquarius. It means water-bear or something."

"Water-bear."

"Mukuro said it means someone who brings other people water."

"That's kind of weird."

"I know, right? Anyway, there was this person named Gan-mede, and he was really really pretty. The king of the gods liked him so much that he asked Gan-mede to live with them forever. Gan-mede agreed and so he became their water-bear."

Tsuna wrinkled his nose sleepily. "Why did they need someone just to bring them water? If I'm thirsty, I get water all by myself. Mama bought a stool, so I don't even need help reaching the sink anymore."

Nagi huffed. "It's just a story, Tsuna."

"Yes, yes, I know."

"Do you want me to tell you another one?"

"How do you know so many of them?"

"I had a book. Mukuro used to read it to me every night. It told all the stories of the constellations."

"Is Andromeda your favorite?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because even though her mom didn't love her, she became happy in the end."

"Oh." Tsuna released the syllable thoughtfully, like it was a bubble.

 _Nagi would be happy one day too_ , he pledged to himself. He'd make sure of it.

"Here, I can tell you about Aries. Mukuro likes that one, though he always changed the story when he told it to me."

"Why?"

"He wouldn't say."

Nagi whispered stories of gods and mortals, of love and loss. Of those worthy enough to be pinned to the sky. Her gentle voice finally lulled Tsuna to sleep.

"Mukuro-nii," Nagi greeted.

Her brother lay lazily stretched out beside Tsuna, back in his human form.

"When are you going to meet Tsuna as yourself?" she asked, sitting up to look down at her brother and Tsuna.

"I'll get around to it, eventually," Mukuro replied, abstractedly poking at their sleeping sky's puffed up cheeks. Tsuna's dark lashes didn't so much as flutter.

Nagi scoffed. "You just like being petted and carried around in Tsuna's arms as a cat."

Mukuro frowned. "No."

"Yes."

"No."

" _Yes_."

Mukuro's eyebrow twitched up in irritation and he withdrew his hand, glaring at Nagi.

"Anyway, do you mind taking Tsuna back to his skyscape? I don't think I could lift him."

Mukuro looked back down at their sky, his expression uncharacteristically soft. Tsuna was sleeping peacefully on his back— _trusting, vulnerable_. One of his hands clutched the side of Mukuro's t-shirt. The other was still enlaced with Nagi's.

She could feel the soft whisper of their flame exchanges in the back of her heart. It felt like a warm drink, or a place beside the fireplace. It felt like a home she had never had.

Nagi slowly detached her hand from Tsuna's to avoid waking him up. Mukuro didn't move.

"It's almost time for him to open his eyes in the real world. You should get going."

Her brother narrowed his eyes. Nagi knew he always did that when he was revealing something he had already carefully planned. She looked at him warily.

"What if we didn't take him back?" Mukuro intimated delicately.

"What?!" Nagi asked, bewildered.

"If we closed the door back to his world, he'd have to stay here. He wouldn't be able to leave."

"We can't do that!"

"Why not?"

"Tsuna has a life outside of us. He can't stay here. He has friends, and a Mama that really loves him."

"We could make him happy. I could teach you how to use your mist flames. If he misses his mother, we could make her out of flames for him. Same goes for his other friends."

"No. They wouldn't be real."

"We could convince him they were."

"That would be wrong! Besides, Tsuna said we could stay with him in real life."

"That's only if you wake up, and I escape. Both of those could take a very long time."

Nagi paused.

"I know you're lonely, Nagi. Tsuna is our sky. He's supposed to be here with us. He belongs here."

"We can't kidnap him, Mukuro-nii. We have to ask him before," she explained quietly.

Mukuro scoffed. "He'd say no."

"He might not. He could be like Gan-mede and say yes."

Mukuro laughed. "Ganymede wasn't asked. Zeus kidnapped him on an eagle and forced him to stay in Olympus."

"That's terrible!"

"Is it? Ganymede was happy after he was taken. He was even given a constellation. If Zeus had bothered to ask, he might have said no."

"But it still would have been his choice. He could have been happier if he hadn't been made to go live with the Olympics."

Mukuro frowned. "Olympians, my dear Nagi. Olympians."

"You know what I mean. Take him back, Mukuro."

"We might not get this opportunity again."

"I don't care. Take. Him. Back."

"Kufufu. When did my little sister get so bold, hm?"

Nagi frowned.

"I wonder if my little sister has thought about what might happen to our mindscape once Tsunayoshi leaves."

"If it goes back to what it was before, I don't care, Mukuro-nii. We already lost our freedom. We can't take away his too."

Mukuro sighed. Wordlessly, he picked up Tsuna and slung him across his back.

Nagi stood up and followed him as he walked to the steel door that separated their scapes.

Mukuro stepped through and began walking towards the lotus garden.

Nagi held her breath and looked around, waiting for the world around her to dissolve back into sensory chaos.

But it didn't.

It held.

Mukuro returned to see Nagi scattering handfuls of pale cherry blossom petals in the air.

"It's snowing!" Nagi laughed joyously.

Mukuro tried to hide the warm smile gliding over his face, but it was impossible.

"Yes it is, isn't it?"

Mukuro plucked a petal out of his hair and ran his finger over the pale pink shell contemplatively.

He would convince Nagi eventually.

.

* * *

Tsuna woke up feeling drained.

His time Nagi and Roku had been more exhausting than usual.

He couldn't imagine them staying in that mindscape for so long.

Just the thought of them alone there made his heart sad.

He hoped Nagi would wake up soon.

Turning over, Tsuna noticed the empty spot by his side.

Hayato was missing.

Panicking, Tsuna raced down, tripping over the last three steps this time.

"Mama! Mama! Where did Hayato go?!"

Nana looked up from the oven where she was making fette biscottate.

"Tsuna," she asked, concerned. "Remember they were leaving today? Their flight was early in the morning."

"They're gone?!"

Tsuna's lip trembled.

"But I didn't even get to say goodbye to Haya."

"It was really really early, Tsu-kun."

"But still! Why didn't you wake me up?!"

Nana sighed. "I'm sorry, Tsuna. I should have. It was just so stressful. Hayato-kun was still half asleep when they left."

Tsuna suddenly felt guilty for getting so worked up about it. "Oh. It's okay, mama. Sorry for yelling."

"Lavina said they'll come visit again soon," Nana said, trying to infuse cheerfulness in her voice.

Her friend was dying.

"Auntie is not doing well… is she?" Tsuna asked gingerly.

Another one of Tsuna's inexplicable leaps. Nana sighed.

"No… she isn't."

"Oh…" Tsuna sighed, his eyes transitioning back to chocolate from their brief foray to amber. "Is she going to be alright?"

"We don't know."

Nana changed the topic. She hadn't decided how much she wanted to tell Tsuna about Lavina's condition yet.

"I found a camp this summer for children who want to pursue aviation. Would you be interested, Tsu-kun?"

Tsuna's eyes lit up like they were fueled by his own personal hydrogen fusion reaction.

"Really?! I can?!"

Nana smiled at his enthusiasm.

"And Reborn's coming home today too," she said.

Tsuna looked like he might pass out from excitement.

But then a thought crossed his mind and his face fell into horror.

"I didn't finish my workbook!" he cried, running back upstairs to grab it.

Nana shook her head and went back to the oven.

Oh, Tsuna.

.

* * *

Reborn arrived early in the evening.

He looked terrible. His eyes were swollen and lined with dark circles.

Tsuna had gone out after finishing his Italian workbook and homework. He had wanted to stay home until Reborn arrived, but Nana had convinced him that he could go visit Kyo and be back to see Reborn at dinner.

Over the phone, Reborn had sounded upset about something. Nana knew Tsuna might be a little too overwhelming for his uncle at the moment. Especially with his current state of blinding happiness. He would hopefully return from his friend's house a little less... energetic. Kyo-kun usually had a calming effect on Tsuna.

" _Tadaima_ ," Reborn called smoothly as he entered the house, taking off his shoes.

" _Okaeri_ ," Nana replied, handing him a cup of coffee and a plate of fette biscottate from the morning.

"Where's Tsuna?" Reborn asked.

"He's visiting Kyoya-kun. He'll be back soon," Nana answered, picking up her own cup of tea.

"Has the new security detail been working out?"

"Yes. There's been no problems. We hardly even notice them."

"Good." Reborn sighed in relief.

One weight off his shoulders had been lifted.

Now for the other, far larger one.

"I've just heard word from Iemitsu."

Nana flinched at the sound of her husband's name.

"He and his boss will be coming to visit you and Tsuna next week."

.

* * *

 **.**

 **.**

 **Hi everyone,**

 **Mmrose9 here. This chapter ran away from me a little. There was just so much to cover, and I didn't want to compromise on anything. Please let me know how I did.**

 **The cat you saw last chapter was the cat Nagi rescued.**

 **Constellation stories are lit, though I may or may not have changed a little bit of the stories to fit my narrative. Check them out!**

 **Classical music is also lit and I fully recommend both pieces Hayato talked about. They are some of my favorites.**

 **Once again, I am completely overwhelmed by everyone's response to this story. I crossed 100 reviews last chapter, and I was totally over the moon.**

 **When Tsuna met Lavina, he said: "I'm so pleased to meet you, Auntie."**

 **I am slowly making my way through reviews, so I apologize for the delay. I have one more exam, and then I am done for the year, so I may try to post two chapters a month until school starts again.**

 **Also, this is the longest chapter yet! Hooray!**

 **If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, just fill out the box below.**

 **Thank you so much!**

 **EDIT (5/16): Just completed a full story edit. On this chapter, I fixed some pacing issues.**

 **Love,**

 **\- Mmrose9**


	10. The Light Between Lions and Cubs

.

 _ **The Light Between Worlds**_

 _Chapter X: The Light Between Lions and Cubs_

 **"You can hide from the devil,**

 **but he'll always find you."**

 **\- Allen Iverson**

.

* * *

.

Reborn's return marked the start of one of the hardest weeks in Tsuna's life.

Before his return, Reborn had been mainly focused on teaching him how to healthily express and release his flames. Now, his zio seemed to be obsessed with teaching him how to hide and repress them.

He was adamant that Tsuna mastered the skill in a week, and Tsuna didn't even know _why_.

They started practice early in the morning, right after Tsuna returned worn out and sore from his run with Ryohei. Reborn had some weird idea that his physical exhaustion would make it easier to quash his flames down.

Spoiler Alert: It didn't.

Learning how to suppress flames was like learning how to live without breathing or blinking— irritating, exhausting, pointless work.

When it did work, it hurt like swallowing a burning dagger hurt— a mind-jarring agony that spread like fire beneath his skin. He was screaming and screaming from the pain on the inside, but his face refused to move— he was mute.

When his flames were suppressed, Tsuna was swept into a never-ending ocean of pain and loss. He was operating barely awake.

His mind kept ricocheting off itself in sheer panic, consumed with the fact that he couldn't feel his family's flames anymore.

The absence of their heartbeats against his own was the most terrifying part.

After his sessions with Reborn, Tsuna usually devoted the rest of the day to Hibari or Takeshi, trying to recover.

The first time he had successfully repressed his flames, he had spent the remainder of the afternoon crying inconsolably. Kyoya had dried his tears and held him until he fell asleep with his ear against his cloud's heart, lulled by the rhythm he had lost earlier.

When he saw his rain later, Takeshi had fretted over him endlessly. He brought Tsuna a huge glass of chocolate milk and a box of sushi, sitting with him until every drop was drained and bite eaten. Despite his best attempts, Tsuna had started crying again in the middle of his meal.

Takeshi had fed him the rest of the sushi while wiping away his tears. When Tsuna thought about the scene for a moment— him: sobbing his eyes out, and Takeshi: stuffing sushi in his mouth and trying to console him at the same time— he started laughing, almost hysterically.

Takeshi had seemed relieved at that, and Tsuna tried not to feel so guilty for worrying him.

.

* * *

Despite his utter exhaustion, Tsuna found his eyes opening at 3 AM. It was the odd sense of knowing— the kind that lit gold paths and told him to duck. It now led him downstairs.

Tsuna had barely stepped foot in the kitchen when the phone rang. Reaching over, Tsuna caught it before the first ring ended.

"Hello?"

A familiar voice echoed over the line.

"Tsuna-sama?"

"It's just Tsuna, Hayato," Tsuna scolded mildly.

Hayato just laughed.

"Why are you calling so late?"

Hayato groaned on the other end.

"I forgot to check. What time is it there, Tsuna-san?"

"It's 3 AM."

"Shoot! It's only 8 PM here. I… I just kind of wanted to talk and catch up."

"Did you miss me?" Tsuna asked eagerly. "I missed you lots and lots. I was so sad Mama didn't wake me up before you left."

Hayato sniffed on the other end of the phone. "I missed you too."

"How was the flight? What airplane did you—"

"Airbus A380. I checked just for you."

They laughed in unison.

"I think I have a model of that one," Tsuna said. "I'll show you the next time you come. How's Auntie doing?"

"I don't know." Hayato's halting voice sounded so lonely and afraid over the receiver.

It made Tsuna's heart hurt. His flames surged up in response.

He wondered if flames could stretch continents— could wrap around Hayato and tell him everything would be okay. And even if it wasn't, reassure him that Tsuna would do his best to make it okay.

"I'm sorry."

"Why?" Hayato asked.

"I wish I could be there with you."

"I wish that too," Hayato whispered.

"You know the cats you met when you were here? Well, Mama says we may be able to keep Kitten."

"Really? What happened to Lady?"

"Oh! Nothing happened. Riku-san just doesn't think he can handle two cats."

"Oh. That's good," Hayato said, sighing in relief. "What will you name him?"

"Umm… eto… maybe Kitten?"

Hayato scoffed. "Sorry, Tsuna-sama, but that's a lame name."

"Eh?" Tsuna huffed. "But Kitten is Kitten, ne?"

"But what about when Kitten grows up, huh? Will you still call him Kitten."

"Oh. Maybe 'Cat' then?"

Hayato groaned.

"It needs to be something cool, Tsuna-san. Like Dynamite or something."

Tsuna scoffed. "I don't think Dynamite's a cool name, Haya. If I was named Dynamite, I would cry. Everyday."

"No, Tsuna! Don't say that."

Tsuna laughed and asked another question.

.

Nana peeked into the kitchen.

Tsuna was on the phone, speaking to Hayato from the sound of it.

She smiled at the language they were using. Japanese and Italian seamlessly blended together into something that almost seemed like a different language unto itself. She had noticed them fall into the hybrid dialect when Hayato was still in Japan.

Sighing, she strided into the kitchen to break up the early morning conversation.

"Why isn't my little lion in bed?"

Tsuna squealed in surprise, dropping the receiver.

"Mama! I was just talking to Haya!"

Nana picked up the receiver.

"Haya-kun? This is Nana."

"O-o-ohayo, Nana-san!" Hayato stuttered. "I'm so sorry about calling at such an odd time! I forgot to check!"

"It's okay, sweetie. Your morning is usually the best time to call. I'm going to make Tsuna go back to bed now, but I would love if you called us regularly. Will you call tomorrow? I would love to speak to your mom too."

"Okay, Nana-san. I'm sorry."

 _Let me say goodbye_ , Tsuna mouthed to her.

Sighing, Nana handed over the receiver.

"Bye, Haya."

"Bye, Tsuna."

"That's twice now," Tsuna started conversationally, "that you've called me Tsuna."

Hayato gasped, shocked at his own indecency.

"I would really like it if you kept doing it. Bye."

Tsuna hung up before Hayato could reply.

Smiling cheerfully, he handed the phone back to Nana and hopped back to his own room.

His sheets had gotten cold. In a few hours he'd have to wake up and start another long day of flame repression exercises.

He frowned, feeling his mood whiplash down from his buoyancy at getting to speak to Hayato again.

Reborn was sleeping in the guest room today. Tsuna knew it was because his godfather thought they needed space after all the training together.

Grabbing his stuffed lion, Natsu, Tsuna crept down the hall to Reborn's room.

The door was open a sliver. Reborn was sleeping deeply. Tsuna entered and slipped under the warm covers.

Even past the veil of sleep, he felt Reborn's flames embrace his. It was like being tucked into bed, or being given a hug.

Tsuna sighed in contentment, letting himself fall asleep by his godfather's side.

.

* * *

Reborn woke up cold. Tsuna had stolen all the blankets to make a little cocoon. Again.

His godson craved warmth— especially in sleep.

Leon snoozed contentedly in Tsuna's hair, and Natsu was wrapped tight in his arms by his cheek. Reborn tugged at the blankets, and Tsuna shifted unconsciously until Reborn was brought into his cocoon too.

He had briefly woken up when his godson had snuck in before falling back asleep.

He decided he could let Tsuna rest a little this morning. He was making good progress.

He let the warmth of the covers and his godson's flames rush over him.

Tsuna's flames were so vibrant and beautiful. Containing them even for a moment was like putting out a forest fire.

But Tsuna would have to do it for hours at a time.

Who knows how long Nono and Iemitsu planned on staying?

He knew it hurt Tsuna.

Hurting Tsuna hurt him worse than anything had ever hurt before.

It was worse than the bullet in Budapest or the stab wound in Stockholm. The look in Tsuna's eyes— blank, vacant— was burned into the back of his eyes.

His godson was drenched in life— kissed by it, colored by it, touched by it in every way. When his flames were suppressed, it was like the life had been snuffed out— the curiosity, the wonder, the awe.

But there were monsters out hunting, and Tsuna was the faun on the edge of the night.

Reborn had to protect him, whatever the cost may be.

He felt an uncharacteristic wave of despair roll over him. His own limitations felt like a shard of glass at the edge of his conscious.

Tsuna hummed awake and blinked blearily up at him.

"Reborn?"

"I'm here, dame-Tsuna."

His godson's dark lashes fluttered shut again, and Reborn felt the whisper of sky flames against his heart like a soft filial kiss on his cheek.

Reborn's sun-stained flames draped around Tsuna protectively in response, thrumming with surprise.

He expected his godson to hate him.

He hated himself.

But rejecting Tsuna would hurt his godson worse than what he was already going through.

He didn't deserve Tsuna's love.

He was just another monster in the endless night.

 _Mi dispiace, passerotto._

 _I'm so sorry._

 _._

* * *

On Wednesday after his training was over, Tsuna went to visit Nagi. Nana took him, but left him to visit Mori-san, the elderly woman who had lived next to them until she had been taken to the hospital after slipping in the bathroom.

Her room had changed.

The door was open. Tsuna slipped inside as softly as he could.

She looked like an echo— a reflection.

Tsuna found it hard to marry this pale shadow with the vibrant girl he knew from the dreamscape.

It wasn't right to see her this way. It was like she had met eyes with some errant Medusa.

Tsuna let go of the reins on his flames, grasping for a sign of life.

When his flames pulled free, it hurt— like the stretch of a sore, overused muscle.

Nagi's mist flames weakly reached back.

It was like pressing the ear and palm to an opaque window— feeling the presence of a matching palm and ear on the other side— but inevitably coming up short of sight and warmth.

The nurse bustled in.

"Weren't you the boy who came to visit a while back?"

Tsuna looked up, taken aback. A while back was months ago.

The nurse smiled awkwardly. "It was pretty memorable."

"Oh. Do you know when Nagi's going to wake up?"

The nurse paused, suddenly uncomfortable.

"Well…"

Tsuna knew suddenly that something was wrong— different— _not right_.

"It's hard to say, sweetie. She's in a coma. We don't know when she's going to wake up."

 _You'll wake up when you're ready, right, Nagi?_

The reply was a low humming of light indigo flame. Nagi had almost no presence in the waking world. At the moment, she belonged to the realm of dreams.

"How do you know, Nagi, sweetheart?"

Tsuna paused.

"I met her at a playground and we became friends," he said, compromising on the full truth.

The reality of the matter was absurd.

"It's so kind of you to come visit her. Nagi doesn't get a lot of visitors."

"What about her parents?"

The nurse bit her lip and sighed.

 _Uncomfortable again_ , Tsuna noted.

"They haven't really come in. They're busy people."

"Oh," Tsuna answered, puffing out his breath slowly to swallow down his sudden irritation.

The nurse left Tsuna and Nagi.

He sat by her side quietly, allowing their flames to braid together. Time slipped by and flowed like the strands of interwoven flames.

Finally, a knock on the open door startled him back.

"Tsu-kun, are you ready to go home now?"

Mama had allowed him a lot of time with Nagi.

He hoped her visit with Mori-san had gone well.

"Mori-san says hi."

Tsuna smiled. Sometimes it felt like his mother could read his mind.

"Mama, this is my friend, Nagi," he said, introducing the two of them.

Nana didn't question the veracity of Tsuna's friendship. She just sat by him and gazed at the slumbering girl.

"She's sleeping right now, but she'll wake up soon."

Nana smiled, but something at the edges of her eyes and the tilt of her mouth seemed so sad.

"Hello, Nagi."

Tsuna closed his eyes, feeling the warmth of orange-purple flames between them.

If Nagi's flames felt any weaker, it was probably just his imagination, right?

 _Wake up_.

.

* * *

Thursday afternoon—

"I don't want to do this anymore, Zio. It hurts. Let's do something else. Please," Tsuna pleaded, voice softened to a whisper.

Reborn closed his dark eyes for a second. When he opened them, they were icy and detached.

"If you don't master this, I can't guarantee your survival."

Tsuna's amber eyes widened.

"Tomorrow, your father is coming. He will be bringing his boss with him. If your father's boss learns you have flames, nobody knows what he will do to you."

"Why?"

"You weren't supposed to have flames. You were supposed to be a normal civilian. So, Tsuna, you have to be able to convince him you are."

"Does he not like flames?" Tsuna asked curiously, shaping a whisker of his orange fire into a cat on his palm.

"He doesn't like _your_ flames."

" _My_ flames? But he hasn't even seen them yet. If he sees how pretty they are, won't he let me keep them?"

Reborn's mouth puckered like a scar on scorched skin.

"No. He will take them from you. You have to hide them. Listen and don't question me."

Tsuna wrapped his arms around himself, feeling cold.

His flames were part of his soul.

Tsuna couldn't imagine them gone.

Imagining his heart ripped out was easier.

"Do it again. Inhale and conceal."

 _Inhale and conceal._

 _Swallow._

 _Breathe._

 _This pain means you still exist._

 _._

* * *

Friday—

Before dawn pinked the horizon, Reborn woke him and brought him to the forest. They stood on a circle of stone at the top of a sheer cliff.

"Let go," Reborn said simply.

So Tsuna did.

His flames were like sheets of glass reflecting an orange sunset.

There was water in the crevices of the stone circle, caught from the last rainstorm. When exposed to the heat of his sky flames, the liquid evaporated instantly.

Cordons of steam spiralled through the air like clouds of doves.

As he burned, his flames surged through his bonds, strengthening and refining them.

After nearly an hour, Tsuna finally sat quietly on the sizzling stone, criss-cross applesauce.

Reborn approached from the place he had settled to avoid being burned on accident.

"You don't have to suppress them yet. Iemitsu's plane lands at 4 pm. You should spend time with your guardians until then."

His godson look up, wide-eyed and incredulous.

"It'll be fine, dame-Tsuna. I'll pick you up and make sure you did it right."

"Ryohei."

Reborn lips quirked. "Don't worry. I'll tell him you're at the Hibaris when he comes to pick you up."

Tsuna bit his lip and nodded reluctantly.

Reborn shot him a mildly worried look. His godfather had probably expected some sass. Tsuna would usually have delivered, but today felt too different and strange to be normal.

"Or, I'll tell him to let you take a break today."

"No. It's… it's okay."

They walked back through the forest. Reborn capitulated to Tsuna's not-so-covert, longing glances at his shoulders and piggy-backed his godson to the Hibari residence.

Hibari Sakura was already awake. She gave him a tiny quirk of the lips. Tsuna knew that was the equivalent of an enthusiastic kiss on the cheek, and all he could expect in front of Reborn. The Hibaris didn't like his godfather for some reason, which to be honest, made Tsuna a little sad.

When Reborn left, she brought him into the house and let him go back to sleep.

Tsuna happily curled up beside his cloud guardian. Their flames were like two jigsaw pieces that fit together perfectly. Hibari greeted him by sleepily ruffling his hair.

He loved the pulse of flame exchange. It was like a second heartbeat wrapped around his first.

Sleep slipped over him gently. He was blinking one moment and out the next.

.

* * *

After breakfast with the Hibaris and his jog with Ryohei, Tsuna went in search of a quiet place.

The park Takeshi played baseball in had a rose garden much further back. There was a little gazebo in the middle of the maze. Tsuna sat in the center of the structure and closed his eyes, reaching for Roku and Nagi.

He called over and over again.

There was no answer.

Nagi and Roku had never been so unresponsive before. The last time he had met with them was Saturday night. Usually, he never went more than two nights without them. Their absence just compounded the overall weird factor of this whole week.

Had his flame repression somehow impacted them?

Tsuna gnawed at his lip harder than usual.

He licked his lips to dull the pain and tasted the salty iron of his own blood.

He had to find a way to get in touch with them. His heart felt even more uneasy after seeing Nagi in the hospital.

Maybe something had gone really really wrong.

No. He had to think positive. He would have been able to feel it if something had gone wrong.

But what if with all the flame repression, he had missed it?

He had to go to the hospital.

.

* * *

Although his original intention had been to visit Nagi alone, as he exited the park, he ran into Takeshi, who insisted on coming.

Along the way, they had somehow "bumped into" both Kyo and Ryohei.

Tsuna didn't believe in this kind of coincidence. Either their flames had somehow brought them together, or Kyo had been following him— oh, sorry— "patrolling" and Ryohei had tagged along with him.

Regardless, he found himself introducing Nagi to nearly all his friends at once.

It went well at first. His friends were respectful, but curious.

But then, Ryohei reminded him— in front of Kyoya— that he would like for Tsuna to call him Onii-san, and the inevitable collision of personality exploded.

One tonfa fight, boxing match, and screaming contest later, all of Tsuna's friends were kicked out. The only reason Tsuna wasn't forced to leave was because the nurse had recognized him.

Finally, in the quiet of the empty hospital room, Tsuna nervously reached for Nagi's hand.

He plunged into the mindscape.

.

The first thing he noticed about Nagi's mindscape was the emptiness. It wasn't the imagination garden, nor was it the cherry blossom river.

Sheer white space. It was like being wrapped in a gauzy veil, slowly suffocating to death.

There was something pink on the floor.

Leaning down, Tsuna reached to pick it up.

It was a cherry blossom petal.

The moment he lifted it from the blank ground, a path of petals and blood emerged ahead of him, staining the whiteness.

"Nagi," Tsuna whispered in horror.

The illusion broke.

Tsuna was thrown back into the cold hospital room.

His face was wet and his hands were trembling.

Nagi was—

Asleep.

She was asleep.

.

* * *

They had a late lunch at Take-Sushi.

Takeshi's dad kept trying to feed them way too much food.

He kind of reminded Tsuna of Mama in that way.

He sometimes wished his eyes were cameras. He wished he could freeze a shot of happiness and keep it with him always— hidden in a safe pocket by his heart.

Nagi should be here eating sushi with them.

Roku should be warm in someone's lap, being hand fed what was safe for cats to eat.

Maybe people couldn't capture happiness with a camera because it required too much editing. It was just too much work to add all the missing things in.

.

* * *

Reborn picked him up promptly at 4 pm.

"Your father and his boss are driving home as we speak. Are you ready, dame-Tsuna?"

Tsuna nodded and hugged his friends goodbye.

 _Don't cry_. _Don't make them worry anymore._

Tsuna knew his friends knew something was wrong. They just couldn't figure out what it was. Preferably, they never would.

"Come along, passerotto."

Tsuna held Reborn's hand and pretended it was an anchor in a dark, stormy sea.

.

* * *

Tsuna swallowed the burning dagger.

But really, he was swallowing himself.

Like crumpling every part of his self into a very tiny pill and gulping it down with something that was too cold but seemed to burn at the same time.

He was half asleep. He was underwater. He was dreaming.

Causality was folded into a neat little paper airplane and crashed in the trash can at the other end of the room.

Events, results, and actions were isolated and disconnected.

His father arrived in a storm of half fragmented sensations and images.

A hug— too tight.

The world spun on its axis as he was lifted and twirled and set down in front of another man.

Eyes— too sharp, too dark.

"Call me Nonno, Tsunayoshi. It means grandfather in Italian."

 _I know._

Oh. That must be his father's boss.

Tsuna looked a little closer.

He looked like a flock of ravens in the shape of a man.

Empty.

There was a tinge of Seville in the air.

The taste of bigarade flooded his mouth.

The older man was looking for his flames.

He wouldn't find them.

The dull orange flames withdrew, and the man sighed in disappointment.

Reborn's hands were suddenly pulling him away.

His mouth were shaping words.

 _Good job_.

They were outside.

Reborn was kneeling next to him, looking at him oddly.

 _Your emotions are showing_ , he wanted to tell Reborn.

His godfather didn't seem to care.

Another man— his father— stepped outside.

They exchanged words.

Reborn left and his father was next to him, saying something.

Tsuna was responding.

The man's eyes scrunched together suspiciously.

 _Smile,_ Tsuna thought suddenly and desperately.

A delay, and then his lips were lifting into a wide semi-circle. It was almost painful.

His father mirrored the smile, looking reassured.

They were at the dinner table.

His mom was looking at him, an oddly panicky look in her eyes.

 _What happened?_ he wanted to ask.

She reached under the table and grabbed his hand.

Her hand was warm.

She didn't let go for the rest of the meal, and breathing was a little easier.

A hand in his hair.

The man was smiling at him, but it was so cold.

"Now, Tsunayoshi, have you ever seen anything like this? It's okay to tell me. I'll believe you."

Seville oranges.

Tsuna shook his head— _he didn't like bitter orange_ — and the man seemed annoyed.

Then the man noticed Mama looking and stepped away.

"I'll ask you again later, and you need to tell me the truth. Only bad children lie, and you're not a bad child, are you, Tsunayoshi?"

Tsuna shook his head, and the man smiled.

Tsuna gazed wide-eyed as the flock of ravens scattered scattered scattered

.

* * *

His godson was finally sleeping.

Reborn had had to sing for nearly an hour, periodically drying Tsuna's silent tears. It was the longest Tsuna had been without his flames since they had been released.

Reborn could also feel the lack of sky in his own, weary sun. Tsuna and him usually had a circuit between them— not as demanding as his guardian bonds— but powerful in its own way.

Calming, reassuring: like a song in the back of the heart or a gentle, loving hug.

Reborn's sun flames felt frazzled and lonely without Tsuna's.

He turned on his side, trying to get rid of the horrors of the day, with his godson's peaceful face.

Nono had been more determined than he thought he would be.

He had flooded Tsuna with his sky multiple times, looking for any hint of flames.

Luckily, Tsuna had hid them well. It was impossible to tell he had ever had flames.

It was horrible though.

Tsuna responded perfectly. He spoke and smiled and listened.

But he was gone.

There was a terrible absence in his eyes.

He was like a doll, making all the right gestures and saying all the right things, but something intangible was missing.

There was a knock at the door.

Reborn carefully stood, pulling the soft blanket over his godson and making sure the stuffed lion was in easy grasping reach.

He knew who it was before he opened the door.

Iemitsu peeked in, noticing his son.

"Why is Tsunayoshi here?"

"It reassures him to not be alone."

Iemitsu's face folded in on itself.

"He has nightmares?"

"Not often anymore."

"You said Tsuna has no scars on his body!" Iemitsu yelled.

Reborn gave the man a scathing glare and looked pointedly back at his sleeping godson.

Iemitsu frowned, chastised.

"There are other ways of being scarred, Iemitsu," Reborn explained darkly.

The man seemed dumbfounded. After a few seconds, he shook his head and rebooted.

"I have to talk to you outside."

.

The two men made their way to the backyard. Iemitsu pulled out a cigarette and rolled it between his fingers.

"What's up with Tsuna?" the man asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You had to have felt his flames when they were released! You were right here when it happened, Reborn."

"I don't get what you're saying."

"I'm saying Tsuna's flames were definitely released, but now we can't find anything. What did you do?"

"If Tsuna released his flames, it was induced by trauma. After the leak your famiglia had, Tsuna had an unfortunate run in with an assassin."

"Yes. But nothing happened!"

"It's true I disposed of Erlkonig. But Tsuna was still with him for almost five minutes. If you felt Tsuna's flames release, it was probably then."

Iemitsu looked strangely relieved.

Reborn heard a tiny rustle from behind them.

A little lion cub was awake and about when he was supposed to be sleeping.

Reborn ignored him for now.

"So they can only be accessed by trauma?"

"That's my understanding."

"So he can't use them like real flames?"

"He'd have to be trained for that."

"Good. Very good," Iemitsu smiled. "I'll tell Nono. Maybe he won't seal Tsuna then."

Reborn froze. "Seal? He wants to seal Tsuna's flames?"

"Yeah. I mean, the other alternative is killing him, so it's really the best option."

"But sealing… the research indicates that children who are sealed… It's a fate worse than death, Iemitsu. You can't cut off a child like that. It's a form of murder."

"I know, Reborn. But I made a mistake! He was a mistake! He shouldn't have ever been born. The price is being paid now for my folly."

Reborn stilled. He didn't have to glance behind him to know the soft copper eyes were now staring at them in shock and horror. He knew the expression well enough.

"Tell Nono and leave," Reborn ordered. "Tsuna's not a threat to him. He has no interest in the family business and if Nana and I have anything to say about it, he never will."

Iemitsu lit the cigarette. He puffed in and out.

"Good. It would be better for everyone if he stayed away."

Another rustle. Tsuna could probably sense the conversation wrapping up and was taking the opportunity to sneak back upstairs.

"Agreed," Reborn said, only when Tsuna was out of earshot. He didn't want his godson to get the wrong idea.

Iemitsu turned and looked at the moon, the light from his cigarette flickering in the darkness.

Reborn left.

.

* * *

His godson was sitting up when he returned, absently stroking his stuffed lion.

"Dame-Tsuna, why are you awake?"

"You smell like smoke."

"I know. How much did you hear."

"Everything important."

Reborn frowned. He slipped back into bed, reaching for his godson.

"You really are dame-Tsuna. Nothing in that conversation was important."

His godson looked up, tears clinging to his lashes.

"I'm a mistake. Otou-san said I… I shouldn't have been born."

Reborn didn't mean to, but he laughed.

"Tsuna, do you think your mom and I think that? That you're a mistake?"

Tsuna paused, contemplating Reborn's question.

"No…" he finally responded, voice soft and vulnerable.

"And how do you know that?"

"Because you love me."

"And how do you know that?"

"Because you fold my socks into bunnies and let me paint your toenails and walk with me to school and pick me up and hug me and teach me things and read me books and… you're there… if I'm scared."

Reborn stilled, swallowing before he spoke so his voice wouldn't be choked up.

"So how could you think that your Papa, who has never been there, would know you enough to say if you were a mistake or not?"

Tsuna's face was suddenly very small and hopeful.

"He wouldn't."

"No. He wouldn't. Iemitsu was wrong. You are not a mistake. You're the only thing he's ever done right in his life. Don't forget it, dame-Tsuna, or I'll give you a million workbooks."

Tsuna's face paled and he nodded quickly.

"And don't tell anyone about the nail polish."

"Why not?"

"Listen to me and stop asking 'why' all the time, dame-Tsuna."

"You said it's good to be curious!"

Reborn froze.

"Tsuna… your flames."

Tsuna stilled in shock.

"I… I forgot. I woke up and felt normal and forgot."

"Suppress them now," Reborn hissed.

Like a switch, the subtle hint of sky flame in the air vanished. Tsuna's eyes dulled and his hand curled into a tight fist.

Reborn reached for the hand and gently pried the fingers apart.

His godson had a habit of leaving crescent shaped scars on his palm when he suppressed his flames.

He wondered if Tsuna's flames had been released long enough for anyone to notice.

Reborn usually left nothing to chance.

But right now, there was no other choice.

Or was there...

As the clouds slowly blushed pink with dawn, Reborn watched the sun rise

and contemplated the consequences of killing the Sky.

.

* * *

Nana had planned on making toast and cereal for breakfast today.

Something had stopped her.

Instead, she had gone all out: oatmeal with fresh fruit, pancakes with syrup and butter, and hot blueberry muffins.

The aroma of the food had woken everyone up. In ones and twos, they sleepily made their way to the table.

When Nono stepped into the kitchen, he paused, suspiciously sniffing the air for a few minutes.

He looked confused, but eventually let it go, sitting happily before the feast.

When Tsuna and Reborn arrived together, Nono paused, suspicious once again.

"Would you like another blueberry muffin, Nono-san!" Nana cheerfully asked, pulling his attention away from her son.

It was disturbing how fixated he was on Tsuna. Nana wouldn't stand for much more of it. If he ever laid a single hand on her son, she would—

"Hello, darling."

Iemitsu kissed her cheek, and Nana gritted her teeth against the sudden rush of flames.

It felt euphoric obviously.

Nothing— not even her own resolve— could stop the smile spreading across her lips.

The inside of her mind was calm though.

 _Let the physical reaction happen. Control the mental one_.

Reborn had slowly taught her in the nights they had before her husband returned.

.

 _The teacup slipped out of her fingers and shattered on the linoleum tiles. The sound startled her as much as Reborn's words had._

" _Why would he come now? And why would he bring his boss with him?" she asked, momentarily unconcerned about the fragmented porcelain._

 _The set of Reborn's mouth was grim, like a fracture on glass._

" _I don't know the details. But, it probably has to do with Tsunayoshi."_

 _She felt a rush of power and anger. A mother's fury. Her eyes flooded orange. "What could they want with my son?" she asked._

" _I don't know, Nana. But whatever it is, we have to be ready. You need to learn to access some of your flames."_

.

Reborn came to her after the meal.

"Thank you," he told her.

She didn't quite know what for, but something told her to say, "You're welcome."

.

* * *

In the end, their undoing had been a chihuahua.

It was the last day of Iemitsu and Nono's visit— Sunday.

Reborn had finally let himself breathe a little.

The two men would be departing in two hours.

Tsuna had been doing so so well. His slip-up on Friday had been his only.

And that was the problem:

Everything had been going so smoothly.

 _Murphy's Law runs absolute on the karma of the world_.

Reborn sat with Iemitsu and Nono, keeping a careful eye on Tsuna.

His godson was leaning over something by the fence.

He had already been there for three minutes and Reborn was feeling too on edge to let him stay there any longer.

"Dame-Tsuna, come here."

Iemitsu shot him an annoyed look.

"Don't call my son 'Dame,' Reborn."

"Why ever not, baka-Iemitsu?"

Tsuna smiled as he reached them. He was getting more and more grounded in the present moment. It bothered Reborn; Tsuna should never have to get used to living without his flames.

"It's okay, otou-san. I don't mind."

Iemitsu wailed some ridiculous nonsense about his son being corrupted by the hitman, and Reborn felt almost on ease when the barking started.

Tsuna turned and shot like a gun towards the fence.

"Hibird!"

And with a terrible epiphany, Reborn understood what Tsuna had been kneeling beside.

His godson's stupid bird had gotten itself stuck in the stupid fence.

Reborn cursed, standing to chase after his godson.

Before he could make it all the way there, he felt a burst of light, like a sun shower.

"Get away from her!"

A flaring of translucent orange.

A rush of caramel and vanilla and heaven on fire.

Reborn stopped and looked back in a panic.

Fate flared to life and reared its ugly head.

Nono stood up slowly

and smiled.

.

* * *

 **.**

 **Hi.**

 **This chapter gave me hell. I tried writing it three different times and finally settled for the fourth attempt above. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, though I'm sorry for the itsy bitsy cliffie above. I was going to continue, but then the ending just seemed so perfect.**

 **Thank you for all the follows, favorites, and reviews! I really really appreciate it. It's what spurs writers on.**

 **I hope you liked the chapter though I know it's kind of weird updating in the middle of the week. I just didn't want to skip a month, you know?**

 **Passerotto means baby swallow, which is pretty accurate for Tsu. Murphy's Law basically says, if something can go wrong, it will.**

 **Anyway, I would really love to know what you thought of this chapter, so please leave me a comment below and I promise I will love you forever.**

 **Yours,**

 **\- Mmrose9**


	11. The Light Between Recovery and Home

.

 _ **The Light Between Worlds**_

 _Chapter XI: The Light Between Recovery and Home_

 **"your heart is a map**

 **I lost my way inside of.**

 **say you'll take me home."**

 **—** **Caroline Kaufman**

.

* * *

.

The sky was on fire.

Events had moved too quickly for Tsuna to keep track of them.

There had been one moment of clarity: his flames had released like a crack of thunder— a homecoming of light and sound and air. They had scarcely stretched out when Tsuna had felt an immense pressure, suddenly pushing all around him— trying to _control asphyxiate subdue smother_ him.

He had fallen to the ground screaming.

He was suffocating from the pressure. He clawed at his throat, trying to breathe. And crying, Tsuna understood why Reborn had wanted him to hide his flames so badly.

His world was collapsing and he was dying.

 _I won't use them anymore. I'll be good. Please stop hurting me._

He pleaded.

The reply came, dispassionate, like the voice of some uncaring god.

 _You are a threat. You lied to me, boy. If you had told me the truth, it wouldn't be hurting right now_.

In the distance, he heard screaming.

The world was upside down and blinding.

Oh. It was him. He was the one screaming.

 _Shut up_.

The metaphorical hands around his throat tightened so Tsuna stopped.

There was no point. What was going to happen was going to happen to him and he couldn't stop it.

Maybe if he was quiet and listened the man would think he was good again and make it hurt less.

Tsuna wished he had no insides. That way they wouldn't be on fire right now— _oh_. He had puked up some blood. That was kind of gross.

His body seized up and Tsuna detached from himself like a severed cord.

His tears were mingling with the snot and blood on his chin and he wanted to wipe it away but he couldn't really move. Also, his mouth was making these weird kind of whimpering sounds and it didn't really sound like him and he wanted it to stop.

He wanted to crawl back into himself like crawling under the sheets of his bed and hide until the storm was over.

Suddenly, his cheek was on fire. He had been smacked. He blinked uncomprehendingly.

 _Don't hide them again, boy_.

If Tsuna thought he knew the extent of his body's capacity to feel pain, the next few seconds proved him wrong.

His flames were not newly released and wispy. They were bold and brilliant and powerful.

Sealing them was not child's play— not the easy motion of cupping a firefly in the hand and never letting go.

It was the act of killing a star— blotting out the light that was still traveling and stretching over light years of nothingness.

Tsuna's eyes closed and he gave himself to the pain.

Unnoticed, a bullet whizzed over his head.

The air trembled and bent in its wake, intent on preserving the last bar of light from a fading supernova.

* * *

 _._

 _Tsuna was tucked into himself like an origami crane. The sky was still on fire and cracks had begun appearing on all the smooth surfaces of his mindscape._

 _Someone was leaning over him._

 _Tsuna quivered away and pressed his knees tighter to his chest, burying his face._ _He didn't want to be hurt anymore._

 _A warm hand was rubbing circles on his back._

" _Tsunayoshi, can you look at me?"_

 _Tsuna shook his head._

 _No. He didn't want to look anywhere— didn't want to be anywhere. He wanted to disappear. Everything hurt. Nothing was beautiful anymore._

" _Please. I promise I can help you."_

 _The hand had stopped drawing circles and was now gently pressing against the bruises, assessing the level of damage._

 _Slow as sunrise, Tsuna lifted his head from the nest he had made of his own body._

 _It was a stranger._

 _He recoiled._

" _Tsunayoshi, it's me. Look at my eyes."_

 _Trembling, Tsuna peeked out._

 _Red and blue. Like rubies and sapphires. Like 3D glasses._

 _Gasping, Tsuna reached for the stranger's face and pulled it closer until their foreheads bumped. He looked deep into them, confirming that they were the same._

 _The stranger looked amused._

" _R-roku? But you're a cat!"_

" _As you can see, my dear Tsunayoshi, I am not a cat."_

 _Tsuna frowned. "You're Nagi's brother, aren't you?"_

 _Mukuro smiled. "So clever, my sky. Will you come with me now? I might be able to help with those wounds."_

 _Tsuna slowly unfolded his body._ _Each inch of skin was bruised and torn and bloody. The worst mark was around his throat where a pair of dark hands had completely purpled the delicate skin._

 _Tsuna attempted to stand, but he was too wobbly._ _Mukuro picked him up._

 _He was technically a stranger, but his presence felt so familiar. Tsuna relaxed despite himself._

" _Tsunayoshi, trust me when I tell you that I will eviscerate the one who did this to you."_

 _Tsuna blinked._ " _What does eviscerate mean?"_

" _It means I will tear out all of their insides slowly, one by one, so they can feel it. And then they will die."_

 _Tsuna wrinkled his nose._ " _I don't really want to hurt anybody, Roku."_

" _I know, my dear Tsunayoshi. That's why I will be doing it for you."_

 _His mist kissed his forehead, and despite the murderous description, Tsuna felt weirdly safe._

 _._

 _Tsuna kicked his legs back and forth as Mukuro bandaged his cheek._

 _Mukuro was biting his lip in concentration. "Hold still."_

" _Sorry," Tsuna apologized. He smiled sheepishly._

 _Mukuro smiled back, his eyes warm and tender. He looked softer like that. It was easier for Tsuna to trace the similarities he shared with Nagi._

" _Your eyes are still really pretty," Tsuna commented absently. "We learned in art class that red and blue makes purple, so it sort of makes sense that you're Nagi's big brother, you know?"_

 _Mukuro's eyes widened and he looked away. He seemed kind of flustered, which reminded Tsuna a little of the cat he had recently been._

" _Did you jump into the river 'cuz Nagi and I were crying?" Tsuna asked._

 _Mukuro flushed in embarrassment, which made Tsuna laugh a little._

" _That was really kind of you. Thank you."_

 _Again, Mukuro didn't respond. He seemed kind of overloaded._

" _How come you didn't meet me earlier? I mean, I thought you were a cat."_

" _I was testing you, Tsunayoshi. I didn't know what kind of sky we had found."_

" _Oh." Tsuna exhaled and fell silent._

 _Mukuro looked at him curiously, noting with alarm that his auburn eyes were welling up with tears._

 _They fell._

" _I suppose I didn't pass your test, did I? You found a no good, ugly, terrible sky. I can't do anything right and I can't protect anybody. I'm sorry."_ _Tsuna started sobbing, hiding his face with his hands._

 _Mukuro froze, completely taken aback._ _Compassion was a terrible stranger, but for his sky…_

 _He reached forward and moved Tsuna's hands away from his puffy, bruised face. He brushed at the tears._

" _Look at me, Tsunayoshi," he said, pulling their foreheads together. "I have already accepted you as my sky."_

 _Tsuna shook his head, splashing his tears on to Mukuro._

" _You are beautiful and powerful and strange in a very charming way."_

" _No! You're wrong… I'm… I'm dirty. You have to find a new sky."_

" _It doesn't work like that, darling," Mukuro huffed. "Tell me what they did to you."_

 _Tsuna shook his head again, shaking so bad Mukuro worried that he'd bite his own tongue._

 _He would torture whoever did this to his sky. He would give them all 6 paths of hell._

 _Tsuna fell silent and Mukuro couldn't coax any words out of him after that._ _Finally, when he had been all bandaged up, Tsuna spoke again. Just one word, said so softly, Mukuro had to crane in to hear._

" _Nagi?"_

" _Come with me."_

 _Tsuna stood and followed him closely, gripping tightly to his hand. He wobbled, coltish and afraid._ _As they approached, Tsuna noticed the familiar paths of petals and blood on the floor._

 _Nagi was lying on a hospital bed, even in the mindscape._

 _Tsuna gasped and rushed forward, pulling Mukuro behind him._

 _The Mist smiled, unsurprised by the reaction. When it came to those in his care, Tsunayoshi never faltered._

" _Was it because I was repressing my flames?" he asked in a panic._

" _Perhaps," Mukuro said, unable to lie. "But mainly, she needs a complicated surgery, and our parents are not willing to pay for it."_

 _Tsunayoshi's eyes lit up in fury and it was breathtaking._ " _How could they?" he choked out._

" _Not everyone loves like you," Mukuro said simply._

 _Tsuna blushed softly- the inner surface of a lotus petal._

" _How can we save her?"_

" _I don't know yet. I have limited information. Only what Nagi has been told or has figured out on her own."_

" _Where are they keeping you, Roku-nii?"_

 _Mukuro flushed at the title. Nagi was the only one who had ever called him older brother._

" _Somewhere in Italy, Tsunayoshi. I have to escape first."_

" _When you escape, come live with me."_

 _Mukuro frowned. Perhaps it was time._

" _If you stayed in our mindscape, we could revive Nagi with our flames."_

" _Really?" Tsuna asked eagerly._

" _Yes. But you'd have to be here constantly, you wouldn't be able to leave."_

 _Tsuna didn't have an obvious reaction to the news._

" _If we revived Nagi, would she still need surgery?"_

" _It's possible she wouldn't. We're keeping her alive with our flames right now, though I think I am currently carrying more of the load."_

" _I'm sorry!"_

" _No, Tsunayoshi. Let your flames recover. It's obvious they've been traumatized. I don't resent the burden."_

" _If I stayed here, would any of the three of us ever wake up?"_

 _Mukuro shook his head, cautiously observing Tsunayoshi for any sign of the negative._

 _His sky was staying here regardless of his answer. His guardians were obviously incapable of protecting him. Mukuro was the only one who could keep him safe, and to keep him safe, he had to keep him here._

" _There has to be another way."_

" _There isn't, Tsunayoshi. Stay here with us."_

" _But if we stay, you guys will never get to see the world."_

" _I don't care about the world," Mukuro thundered._

 _Tsunayoshi took a nervous step back._ _His eyes rapidly darted between Nagi and the steel door that led back to his own mindscape._

 _Mukuro felt a crashing wave of hurt._

" _Am I scaring you, Tsunayoshi?"_

 _Tsuna looked back at him. Mukuro immediately hated the fact that he couldn't read minds._

" _Mukuro, the world is worth it. I promise."_

" _The world did this to you. I don't want it."_

 _They paused, staring at each other. Mukuro prepared his flames to seal the door._

 _But then Tsuna stepped forward, moving into his space. His sky kept their eyes pinned together._

 _Mukuro resisted the urge to back up. Before he could blink, his sky's arms were wrapping tightly around him. Mukuro reflexively relaxed his flames and brought his head down to rest in the crook of Tsuna's bruised collarbone and neck. If it hurt, Tsuna didn't tell him to move._

" _The world didn't do this to me," Tsuna whispered. "One person did. That one person is not the world."_

 _Mukuro froze._

" _One day, Roku-nii, I'm going to be a pilot. When I am, I promise I'll fly you everywhere and show you how I see the world. But for that, you need to be awake. We all do."_

 _Mukuro felt a kiss pressed to his forehead. He blinked away a tear._

" _The first time I saw the sky, I almost cried with how beautiful it was. I want to show you and Nagi everything, Roku-nii. And I can't do that here."_

 _Mukuro laughed, trying to hide how vulnerable and speared open he felt._

" _And you think you aren't a good sky," he scoffed._

 _Tsuna flushed._

" _Listen, Sawada Tsunayoshi." Mukuro lifted his head and looked straight into Tsuna's eyes, deadly serious. "You are mine, and if I don't think you are being taken care of properly, I won't hesitate to take you away."_

 _Tsuna raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "I'm taking you away first."_

 _Mukuro laughed. "You're taking me away from my captors. I'll be taking you away from your family and friends."_

" _Meet them first, Roku-nii. I'm pretty sure you'll grow to like at least one of them."_

 _Mukuro rolled his eyes._

" _Don't forget your promise, darling."_

" _I won't."_

 _Tsuna paused, biting his lip._

" _Do you need help escaping? I have a godfather, Re-"_

" _-born. I know. I was there when you told Nagi about him. Remember? I'm the cat?"_

" _Oh, yeah." Tsuna blushed. "I can ask him to help."_

 _Mukuro laughed. "I don't need any help. I already have a plan in place. I assisted some of my associates with their escape a few months earlier. They owe me a favor."_

 _Tsuna narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Where exactly are these ashoshi— assoschi— ashh— people?"_

 _Mukuro's lips twitched._ " _Namimori. I asked them to keep an eye on Nagi."_

 _Tsuna frowned. "These people wouldn't happen to be making any trouble, would they?"_

 _Mukuro shrugged._

 _Tsuna left the matter alone, deciding to consult with Kyo later. The string of attacks on students and this new information seemed suspiciously coincidental. Kyo might be able to provide the missing pieces._

" _While you're escaping, I'll see what I can do about Nagi."_

 _Mukuro looked surprised._

" _I think my father has a lot of money. He might be able to help."_

" _Would he be willing to provide for a complete stranger?"_

" _I don't know. I have to talk to him. If not, I'll find another way."_

 _Mukuro nodded. Tsuna pulled him into another hug. Their foreheads bumped and Tsuna smiled wide._

 _Mukuro's flames sang home._

" _Thank you," Tsuna murmured._

 _Mukuro almost asked_ "for what?" _to be petty, but decided not to._

 _He hugged his sky back, feeling the sluggish rush of flame exchange. Tsuna's flames were slowly recovering. His bruises were fading._

 _They'd probably always be a little scarred though._

 _The thought renewed his anger._ " _Are you sure you won't tell me who did this?"_

 _Tsuna shook his head. "It's not important anymore. I don't want you to do that to anyone. Reborn says violence changes people."_

" _I'm already changed."_

 _Tsuna's eyes darkened with regret._

 _There was a very specific sort of stillness in his sky's eyes— something unfathomable that made Mukuro certain time could cease and reverse._

 _All the shattered things could come back together again,_ _slowly, one piece at a time._

" _I know."_

 _The world dissolved and lightened to dust._

 _It scattered._

* * *

.

Tsuna woke, surrounded by his family.

"Tsuna-sama! You're awake!"

 _Hayato?_ He blinked in confusion, turning to face the silverette, accidentally bumping foreheads. He felt terribly sore. As he tried to back up, he accidentally elbowed Kyo in the gut. His cloud huffed, but didn't move away.

 _Where? How? What?_ Tsuna asked oh-so-coherently.

"You've been asleep for almost two weeks, Tsuna," Takeshi said from his spot by Tsuna's knees. "Reborn said that… well… he said that you might not wake up."

His rain looked terrible. There were prominent dark circles under his puffy eyes. His face had a flush of red that meant he had been crying.

"Well Tsuna is extremely awake now! I'll go get Nana-san and Coach Boreen!" Ryohei happily announced.

Before Tsuna could say anything, the Sun had already left, running down the hall. They were at some kind of facility. Tsuna didn't recognize the room.

He gingerly moved his hand up. It had no physical flaws. No bruises or cuts at all.

He summoned his flames.

It hurt, but they appeared quickly at his call, cheerfully morphing into a little lion for him.

He gasped in awe. He still had his flames.

Moments later, Mama, Reborn, and a stranger were rushing in.

His mama immediately tucked him into her arms, and even Reborn lingered close until Nana pulled him into their hug.

Their embrace felt good. It eased some of the pain.

Finally, the stranger cleared his throat impatiently.

They all turned to face him.

"Tsuna, this is Dr. Shamal. He specializes in flames," Reborn introduced.

Tsuna felt strangely shy. He waved, blushing.

The doctor stretched out his hands like he was going to give Tsuna a hug before Reborn whacked him hard over the head with his Leon bat.

The doctor stopped, complaining loudly, and Reborn passed Leon to Tsuna, back in lizard form.

Leon stuck out his tongue and gently hit Tsuna's cheek. Tsuna laughed and placed the little guy in his hair.

"Is he always so Disney princess?" Dr. Shamal asked Hayato. Hayato nodded, a serious look on his face.

Auntie Lav bustled in.

"Hi, dear," she said, giving Tsuna a little hug and kiss. After she had greeted him, she went and stood by Nana and Dr. Shamal.

 _Why aren't my flames gone?_ Tsuna asked.

Everyone stayed silent.

"Focus on getting better for now, dame-Tsuna," Reborn ordered.

 _No. I want to know_ , Tsuna protested. _What… what happened?_

Reborn cast a cutting glance around the room, and everyone scrambled out in varying states of elegance except for Nana, who stayed.

"Your godfather made a deal with Nono," she said.

Tsuna looked at Reborn curiously.

His godfather spoke. "I told him that if he didn't seal your flames, I'd work exclusively for him."

 _But you don't like working for anyone but yourself, Reborn_ , Tsuna protested. _That's what you said._

"I like your flames being unsealed better," Reborn said simply.

Tsuna wanted to cry.

 _Thank you thank you thank you_ , he chanted instead, pulling Reborn into another hug. _Are you sure it's okay?_ he asked.

"If it wasn't okay, I wouldn't have done it," Reborn scoffed, working his hands through Tsuna's fluffy hair. "Don't ask stupid questions, dame-Tsuna."

 _Okay. What else?_

"You aren't allowed to learn any flame combat and Nono will send someone to check on your flames every year to see how they're developing. But that's pretty much it."

 _But Nono won't come, right?_ Tsuna asked in a whisper. Nana moved to sit by him and reached out for his hand.

"I don't know, passerotto. But I think that as long as we keep in line, he won't have any reason to."

 _I don't want to see him ever again_ , Tsuna said, turning to hide his face in Nana's shoulder. She rubbed his back soothingly.

Reborn tilted his fedora down.

 _I don't understand why he agreed_ , Tsuna said.

Reborn gave him a quirked eyebrow, signalling that he should continue.

 _It didn't seem like anything would make him agree. I thought he was going to do it for sure_ , Tsuna tried to explain.

Reborn understood.

"He was struggling too much with your flames. They were not being very obedient."

Tsuna frowned, trying to remember the moment when Nono had tried to seal him up. However, much like any pain, the memories of it had already dulled in intensity.

 _So he wouldn't have been able to seal me?_

"I didn't say that, dame-Tsuna. But if he had ended up sealing you, it would have taken so much of his own flame and energy, he may not have been able to recover from it."

 _Really?_

"Really. And Nono has his own problems at home to worry about. It simply wasn't worth it."

Tsuna frowned. He felt strangely dismissed, but also relieved.

So so relieved.

 _Why did we come to Dr. Shamal?_

"You were in a flame-induced coma and no one could reach you. We thought Nono might have done permanent damage. As I said earlier, Shamal specializes in flames. We thought he might be able to help you. Usually, he doesn't accept patients without a referral or without them being a… certain type, so Nana reached out to Lavina who reached out to him."

 _Thank you, Mama_ , Tsuna murmured, leaning in to kiss her cheek.

Nana also looked like she had been crying. She cuddled him closer. "I'm so happy to see you awake, baby."

 _Are we still in Japan?_ Tsuna asked, thinking of Mukuro.

Reborn nodded.

 _Did Auntie Lav come all the way here just for me?_ Tsuna asked a little distressed.

Nana looked towards Reborn askingly. He murmured something in her ear. Nana's eyes lit up as she understood.

"She wanted to, Tsu-kun." Nana sighed. "Sometimes, I don't think you know how loved you are."

Tsuna stayed silent, not knowing how to respond.

"It makes you selfish in ways people are not usually selfish."

 _What do you mean, Mama?_ Tsuna asked, completely bewildered. He had just woken up from a two-week coma and Mama was already calling him selfish?

Nana smiled at his baffled look.

"Sorry, baby. But you'll probably figure it out later."

Tsuna pouted and Reborn laughed and moved towards the door.

"Oi, Shamal! Come back in here and take a look at his flames."

The doctor quickly re-entered, flinching away from Reborn.

Tsuna looked between them curiously, wondering what happened.

"Can you summon some of your flames?" Dr. Shamal asked.

Tsuna nodded, making a little heart shaped ball with his orange.

Dr. Shamal looked amazed. "That level of purity is… May I?"

Tsuna passed over the ball of flames to the doctor, making sure it didn't accidentally singe him.

Dr. Shamal brought it over to a weird device and analyzed it with some weird goggly things.

"Do you care if I bring a sample to Verde? He would die for a glimpse of this."

Reborn hit Shamal in the back of the head again with his hand.

"Anything you learn about my godson's flames don't leave this room or your mouth. Understood, Shamal?"

The doctor flinched and nodded quickly, getting back to work.

"They are a little scarred, but they have maintained their purity levels," he finally pronounced. "Over time, the scarring may fade a little."

"What does scarred mean for flames?" Nana asked.

"It means that his flames are still a little wounded. They may not be as eager to reach out and connect. They may hurt the brat— that is to say Tsuna— a little when he tries to use them. Over time though, it means nothing. Everyone's flames get a little scared with life."

Nana nodded her thanks.

"Why can't he speak?" Reborn asked, blunt as always.

Tsuna turned in shock towards his godfather, opening his mouth to protest.

Nothing came out.

"You've been speaking through your flames, dame-Tsuna. Didn't you notice?"

Tsuna bit his lip and shook his head.

"Right now, I think it's just stress," Dr. Shamal explained. "He'll probably get his voice back as he recovers."

Reborn still looked vaguely unhappy with the explanation.

Tsuna yawned a little, feeling exhaustion overpower him.

"Sleep for now, Tsuna. We're not going anywhere," Reborn said.

Tsuna closed his eyes in response and allowed himself to fall.

* * *

.

"I don't want to see him again."

Reborn turned to look at Nana. She had been looking increasingly miserable over the time Tsuna spent asleep. Now that her child was finally awake, it made sense that her words had returned to her.

"Who, Nana?"

"Iemitsu and Nono. I can't bear to see them again. If I did, I think I would do something that would scare Tsuna."

"You have a pretty resilient kid."

"Not resilient enough for what I want to do to the man who calls himself my husband." Nana blinked, and Reborn was shocked to notice a tear tumble down her cheek. "He held me back. His boss was doing something terrible to Tsuna and I wanted to stop it, but my own husband _stopped_ me. He's a coward and I wish I had never met him."

"If you hadn't met him, you wouldn't have Tsuna," Reborn gently reminded.

"I know. I could never regret Tsuna, but I can regret the man I gave him for a father."

"So what do you want to do, Nana?"

"I don't know what I want to do yet, I just know I trust you to help me when I do. You are a part of my family, Reborn, and I wanted to tell you."

He stilled.

Nana was the kind of person who seemed as though she trusted the world. However, her actual inner circle had a minuscule radius. He had finally been let in. Her ally in Wonderland. Family.

"Of course," he replied simply, not betraying the gravity of the moment.

* * *

.

His whole body felt incredibly weak. It was almost embarrassing.

Finally, he made it to the garden bench.

He was still at the facility. He worried about Mukuro finding him sometimes, but he couldn't leave until Dr. Shamal gave him the okay.

Hayato sat down next to him.

"Tsuna, I was thinking. I want to bond with you as your Storm."

Tsuna turned in surprise. _You know about flames?_

"I spoke to the stupid doctor and Reborn-sama and learned everything I need to know about flames. I know I'm a Storm, and I know you don't have one yet, so I want to be _your_ Storm. Also, I want to understand you. Always."

 _But… we live in different countries. It might hurt you._

Hayato looked at him closely, trying to analyze his expression.

"Reborn said a flame bond could cause damage if the people in it were separated by geographical distance. But my mom says we might move to Japan soon, and I can't bear not being bonded with you. You have that kind of bond with the baseball idiot and Hibari-san, and I want it with you too."

Tsuna frowned.

 _Are you sure, Hayato?_

In reply, Hayato reached out and grabbed his hand.

Tsuna felt a gentle rush of storm flames against his sky.

There was nothing to do but accept. He could never reject Hayato— not in a million years.

Their flames entwined around each other, swirling around them and settling.

Hayato looked oddly relieved and relaxed— Tsuna had never even noticed he was so tense in the first place.

"Thank you."

 _No, thank_ you _._

Hayato smiled, pleased.

"Me too, Tsuna!" Ryohei called as he jogged behind the bench. "I can be your extreme Sun!"

Hayato growled. "You don't need to copy me, Turf Top! And stop running back and forth! You look like an idiot."

Tsuna laughed, but later he bonded with Ryohei too, adding vibrant yellow to his flame networks.

Reborn frowned at him, subtly informing him that he would be getting scolded again soon for over-extending himself.

He didn't care.

* * *

.

Kyoya came and claimed him after a few hours.

He dragged him to an empty spot in the garden and forced Tsuna to spar with him until his limbs finally felt like his own again.

Then, they fell into a heap under the plum tree and napped.

Kyoya's cloud flames cradled his sky with the utmost care and reverence.

It's how Kyoya expressed his love. This act of shelter and protection.

Cloud hiding the sky from the world.

Tsuna relaxed and focused on breathing.

* * *

.

His rain, perhaps, had the most difficult time.

Takeshi was used to soothing away his little worries and fears as easy as brushing off dirt from his school uniform. When faced with something so big, his rain was left floundering.

[ _Takeshi sometimes forgot that Tsuna also enjoyed soothing away his doubts the rare moments they made themselves known to him._ ]

Yes, his rain was supposed to wash away his worries, but as the sky, Tsuna held all of Takeshi's wordlessly until they were ready to be released and shared and evaporated away.

"I thought you were going to be in a coma forever. I thought I lost you."

Tsuna nodded, brushing a hand through his rain's hair.

They were on top of the roof. The building was only one story tall, so it was not really dangerous.

"And the worst part is I knew something was wrong before you went home after lunch. And I didn't even do anything about it. I didn't even ask you if you needed help or something."

 _There was nothing anyone could do, Take. I promise it turned out for the best. And I'm not in a coma anymore. I'm awake now._

"But you can't speak anymore."

 _I'll probably be able to again eventually. There's so many languages I want to learn, so it won't hold me back for long._

Takeshi nodded, pleased with Tsuna's explanation, their flames twined together like two lazy cats.

 _It won't happen again_ , Takeshi promised.

Tsuna nodded in agreement.

His Sky flames whispered _I'm here_ until Takeshi fell asleep with _you are, aren't you_ on his lips.

While Tsuna was happy his rain guardian was finally sleeping, he was slightly less happy to realize that they were stuck on the roof.

* * *

.

They reached Namimori the next day.

No one was ready to leave yet, so they all stayed at the Sawadas.

Lavina decided to stay with Shamal so he could check how her illness was progressing. Hayato came home with the Sawadas.

Hana and Kyoko came by to see Tsuna, and he reassured them that he was okay now. They had been told that he fell sick and had to see a special doctor.

Tsuna felt touched by their concern and the sweets they brought.

.

He went and visited Nagi with Nana and Reborn.

Her ever-present stillness hadn't changed. She had only grown more pale. Tsuna longed to see her awake in this world.

 _She needs a surgery, but her Mama and Papa won't pay for it._

Slowly, Nana had begun to understand what he saying. Her flames had moved closer to the surface and Tsuna's sky had begun reaching out for hers.

She went to talk to the nurse while Reborn and Tsuna sat at Nagi's bedside.

They didn't speak. Tsuna reached for Nagi's hand.

Nana returned. She embraced him.

"Don't worry, Tsu-kun. Mama's going to handle this."

And somehow, he believed her.

* * *

.

One day, Tsuna woke up and Mukuro was there.

He had drifted in like debris on a shore or a snow flurry in the spring.

His Mist was wrapped around him, still sleeping.

Later, Tsuna would have to explain to his mama who he was. He'd have to introduce Mukuro to all of his friends and hope they'd get along.

But right now, Tsuna was just happy his Mist was here and safe.

He turned and returned Mukuro's embrace, feeling the pokey bones of his ribcage and the tender bruises and swelling of wounds that would have to be treated.

 _Welcome home, Roku-nii_.

* * *

 _._

 _Guys, this is Mukuro,_ Tsuna introduced.

After a lengthy interrogation, Reborn had treated all of Mukuro's wounds. To be honest, his godfather didn't seem super happy that one of his Mists were home. Hopefully, his friends would give him a warmer reception.

They all sat in a circle in the Sawadas backyard. Hayato, Takeshi, Ryohei, and Kyoya.

Mukuro had somehow convinced Tsuna to sit in his lap, arguing that he was just returning the favor.

 _I hope you all get along with him_ , Tsuna finished.

Mukuro leaned in and kissed the back of Tsuna's neck. Used to it, Tsuna didn't react. His guardians on the other hand...

Kyoya's eyebrow twitched as he reached for his tonfas. Hayato was wide-eyed and Takeshi was… glaring?

The backyard exploded.

Literally.

 _Haya! Where did you get bombs?!_

"Shamal, Tsuna. Don't worry. He taught me how to use them!"

 _That's not why I'm worried!_

"I can't hear you, Tsuna! Just wait!"

Tsuna paused, lost.

His guardians were violently fighting, like beasts or creatures from his story books.

But they were laughing too? Maybe they were just having fun?

"Kufufufu!"

"Pineapple herbivore. Prepare to be bitten to death."

Trident and tonfa collided.

Tsuna got the feeling that he should perhaps stop this.

 _Um, guys?_

No response.

 _Guys?_

Tsuna sighed.

 _GUYS!_

His friends didn't even appear to hear him. He huffed in frustration and crossed his hands across his chest. Maybe he could use his flames to—

"Tsu-kun, do you want to help Mama with snacks?"

Tsuna huffed and turned to follow his mother back into the kitchen.

 _They're not even listening to me, Mama. I wanted us all to be friends._

Nana smiled and patted Tsuna's head.

"Maybe they're just getting to know each other, ne? After we prepare the snack, you can go out and bring it to them. I guarantee you, Tsu-kun, the way to people's hearts is through their stomachs."

Tsuna nodded thoughtfully, musing over the words like they were something profound.

Finally, he brought out the huge tumbler of lemonade with plastic cups and the cookies.

His friends seemed totally knocked out and exhausted. Mukuro shouldn't be straining himself so soon after his recovery.

Tsuna sniffed. If they had listened to him, they wouldn't be so tired right now.

 _Guys! I have lemonade and cookies!_

His friends stirred. They rushed towards him as if they hadn't been lying on the ground seconds ago. Tsuna held the precious food away.

 _You can only have them if you all promise to be friends with each other_.

His friends shot him devastated looks.

 _Go on! Promise_.

"Tsuna-sama, you don't understand. We're protecting your innocence."

Tsuna raised an eyebrow.

 _My innocence doesn't need protecting!_

Kyoya shot him an incredulous "oh, really," look.

Tsuna did not appreciate the sarcasm.

 _None of you are getting cookies. I will eat them all myself._

Takeshi gave him puppy dog eyes. Tsuna ignored him.

"Tsuna, I will be extreme friends with your friends!" Ryohei said. "We all boxed today and it was so much fun! Next time, you should box with us!"

Tsuna smiled, pleased at his Sun. He handed him a cookie and a glass of lemonade.

Slowly, one by one, his friends pledged their resolve towards friendship.

All except Kyoya, who mysteriously vanished. Tsuna sighed, resolving to find him later.

Maybe he should have told his guardians about Mukuro earlier. It might have made this part easier.

It was too late now. At least they knew about Nagi.

* * *

 _._

 _Kyo, why did you disappear?_

The baby carnivore appeared under the plum tree. Hibari shot him a look.

 _Can you come down? I want to know your feelings._

Reluctantly, Hibari clambered down from his tree. Tsunayoshi reached forward and hugged him.

Their flames melded together.

 _I'll always need you, Kyo. No matter what happens. Why did you leave?_

 _Too much crowding, omnivore,_ Hibari explained wordlessly.

Tsuna understood.

Kyoya was a solitary creature, but he was his Cloud too. Those two roles were conflicting, but they didn't have to be.

Kyoya scoffed.

 _From now on, you will be at the dojo every Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays at 4pm. When school starts, we will patrol together Tuesdays and Thursdays along with the other days at the dojo_.

Tsuna nodded.

 _But why do I have to come to the dojo?_

Kyoya smiled with his teeth.

 _I will be teaching you how to fight, baby carnivore. When I can't protect you, you will need to know to protect yourself_.

Kyo took Tsuna's coma as a personal failure, as he always did.

Tsuna held his Cloud tighter.

 _It wasn't your fault_ , he said.

Kyoya didn't reply.

Tsuna got the feeling he didn't really believe him.

 _It wasn't your fault_ , he repeated again.

 _Hn._ _Be on time, small animal. Or I'll bite you to death._

* * *

.

Nana bought Mukuro a wardrobe full of clothes.

The whole time they were out, Mukuro held Tsuna's hand tightly, radiating hesitance and uncertainty. His discomfort was almost tangible.

He had never been taken shopping, Tsuna realized with a start. Nobody had ever spoiled him with clothes and presents.

The thought made Tsuna terribly sad.

Nana had taken to Mukuro like flight to a bird.

Sometimes, after Tsuna had finished his training with Reborn, he could find Mukuro helping Nana cook for dinner.

He always liked watching them from the doorway.

He never felt jealous. He loved his mother for seeing the wounded pieces in his Mist and reaching out to him. He wanted to shower Mukuro with all the love and belonging he had been so far denied.

Mukuro clung to Tsuna like he was dew on a blade of grass.

Slowly, as he was reintegrated into this world, he would branch out again— reach out for others. For now, Tsuna didn't mind his Mist's constant presence at his side.

He had only asked once.

 _Roku-nii, how did you escape?_

His Mist grinned. It was dark, and not entirely whole. Laughter bubbled.

 _I killed them, Tsunayoshi. And then I ran. Are you scared yet?_

Tsuna thought for a moment before shaking his head. _I'm just happy you're home._

Mukuro's smile turned more genuine.

 _Kufufu, how on earth did I find you for my sky_.

 _I found you_ , Tsuna replied with a smile. _You and Nagi both._

Mukuro laughed again.

 _I suppose you did, darling_. _But I'm not letting you go_.

 _I'm not letting you go either._

 _Good._

* * *

 _._

 ** _What sorcery is this? An early chapter?_**

 **Hi, everyone! To be honest, I felt a little guilty since I wanted to update twice a month in the summer and the last chapter gave me so much trouble.**

 **Anyway, it is here.**

 **As always, I appreciate your follows, favorites, and comments so so much. I love hearing your thoughts about what I'm doing and your predictions and everything.**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

 **We're finally almost at the end of the first arc.**

 **Please let me know what you think below.**

 **Lots of love,**

 **\- Mmrose9**


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